Screening of local cassava germplasm for domestic and industrial purposes

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted at the University of Ghana Farm. Legon and Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute (Bunso). The first experiment was carried out at Legon from March, 2002 to October, 2003 to evaluate 11 cassava accessions. The criteria used for the evaluation were (a) tolerance to whitefly infestation and African Cassava Mosaic Virus (ACMV) disease infection (b) root tuber yield and starch yield characteristics. Based on the performance of accessions in Experiment I, seven superior cassava accessions and one check variety were selected for further evaluation in Experiment II. Experiment II was conducted between October, 2003 and January, 2005 at two agro-ecological zones, that is, the Coastal Savanna (Legon) and Deciduous Forest (Bunso) to identify and select elite accessions with desirable agronomic traits and root tubers with high starch content. Three accessions, namely: 'UG126', 'H0015' and ·H0008' were observed to rank highest with respect to root tuber weight and other desirable production traits. Accessions 'UG126', 'DMA030' and ·H0008' were identified as genotypes with high quality starch suitable for industrial purposes based on low solubility. high swelling volume, swelling power and high peak viscosity.