Wetland Taro: a Neglected Crop for Food, Feed and Fuel1
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Table 6. Yield of sweet potato grown on sand, Sanford, 1981. Acknowledgements This paper reports results from a project that contributes 147 days 188 days to a cooperative program between the Institute of Food & Tons/acre rjry wt. Tons/acre Dry wt. Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) of the University of Florida. Cultivar fresh dry- fresh dry and the Gas Research Institute (GRI), entitled, "Methane from Biomass and Waste." W119 10.6 2.5 23.8 21.2 4.7 22.0 W149 7.0 1.5 21.9 18.3 3.8 21.0 Literature Cited Travis 5.5 0.9 15.7 14.4 2.1 14.9 W125 6.7 1.5 23.0 14.1 3.2 22.5 1. Bagby, M. O. 1981. Energy: Alternative sources for agriculture. Morado 3.0 0.8 25.1 12.9 3.3 25.6 Proc. Great Plains Agr. Council, p. 3-10. W115 7.5 1.5 19.9 12.1 2.1 17.5 2. Hall, D. O., G. W. Barnard, and P. A. Moss. 1982. Biomass for W154 8.1 1.5 17.9 — energy in the developing countries. Pergamon Press, New York. 220 p. 3. LeGrand, F. 1980. Producing ethanol by a community distillery for use as a fuel. Florida Agr. Expt. Sta. Cir. 482. 11 p. 4. Silva, J. G. da, G. E. Serra, J. R. Moreira, J. C. Concalves, and J. Goldenberg. 1978. Energy balance for ethyl alcohol production from crops. Science 201:903-906. Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 95:367-374. 1982. WETLAND TARO: A NEGLECTED CROP FOR FOOD, FEED AND FUEL1 Stephen K. O'Hair Maoli' taro in a flooded Pahokee muck soil in Belle Glade, IFAS, University of Florida, Florida. Noticeable corm development began in July. A Agricultural Research and Education Center, maximum of 3404 kg dry weight/ha was recorded after 305 Homestead, FL 33031 days of growth in January. Maximum corm and cormel pro duction was recorded in December with a total of 9,317 kg George H. Snyder dry weight/ha. Top growth reach a plateau of 3300 kg dry IFAS, University of Florida, weight/ha by September, which was maintained unfif a Agricultural Research and Education Center, January frost. Belle Glade, FL 33440 Taro, Colocasia esculenta Schott (syns. C. antiquorum Julia F. Morton Morton Collectanea, University of Miami, var. esculenta Schott; Caladium esculentum Hort.), has, Coral Gables, FL 33124 historically, been the most prominent of the edible aroids (family Araceae), and it has acquired various regional names: coco (Jamaica), tannia or eddoe (Trinidad), eddo Additional key words. Colocasia esculenta. (Barbados), taya (French West Indies), oto (Panama), tiquisque (Nicaragua), nampi or nampy (Costa Rica), Abstract. Taro (Colocasia esculenta Schott) is an aroid with quequeisque, quiquisque (El Salvador), makal (Yucatan), large, heartshaped, peltate leaves arising from a starchy ashipa (Peru), inhame branco or inhame da costa (Brazil), main, cylindrical, tapered corm from which may develop gabi (Philippines), talo (Samoa), dalo (Fiji), kulkas (Egypt), numerous rounded side cormels. The species is highly vari kolocasi (Cyprus), kalo, keladi, or tales (Indonesia and able and it is claimed that there are more than 1,000 types Surinam). In Guatemala, Cuba and some other Spanish- or races varying in habit, degree of acridity, tenderness, color speaking areas, it is sometimes called "malanga", a term of plant and corm, and adaptability to dry or wetland culture. better limited to Xanthosoma spp. (cocoyam) to avoid con Although it is grown commercially, most crop production and fusion (23). harvesting is done manually. For the past 50 yr, tropical agriculturists have tended to Origin and Distribution replace dryland taro plantings with cocoyam (Xanthosoma spp.) which gives a higher yield with less labor. Neverthe Believed native to India and neighboring regions of less, wetland taro has a place under conditions unsuitable for southeastern Asia, taro has been cultivated there and in the dryland crops. Machines are being developed to replace sev East Indies for more than 2,400 yr. Recent archaeological eral difficult and tedious manual operations. research in Papua New Guinea indicates that taro was The corms can be peeled and boiled, fried, or dried and grown in the swamps of the Western Highlands Province as made into flour. Taro chip production is currently com much as 9,000 yr ago (42). mercialized. Both the tops and corms can be used to feed Taro was introduced into Egypt about 2,000 yr ago, and swine. All plant parts can be converted to carbon-based fuels. thereafter to Italy and Spain. From Spain it was carried to Monthly harvests were made of March planted 'Lehua the New World. Meanwhile, it spread to various parts of tropical Africa and throughout the Pacific Islands and be came a staple food long before the sweetpotato was known iFlorida Agricultural Experiment Stations Journal Series No. 4386. This paper reports results from a project that contributes to a coopera in Oceania. The northern and southern limits of taro's tive program between the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences range of cultivation are "upwards of 10 degrees beyond that ot the University of Florida and the Gas Research Institute, "Methane of the greater yam" (Dioscorea alata L.) (6). from Biomass and Waste". Mention of a chemical product does not Over the past 300 yr, taro has taken second place to the imply endorsement or registration in the U.S. for that use on taro. 367 Proc. Fla. State Hort. Soc. 95: 1982. sweetpotato, and some taro-producing swamplands have wide, on green, green-and-purple, or wholly purple, suc been abandoned in Papua New Guinea. Nevertheless, wet culent petioles 40 to 150 cm long. Leaf color varies from land taro is still important in the Cook Islands, Fiji, the light- or dark-green to more or less purple. The incon New Hebrides, and in New Caledonia where irrigated plant spicuous inflorescence which forms seasonally (1 or from ing declined for some years and then was revived (42). 2 to 5 together) is a cylindrical spadix about 10 cm long, Today, 99% of Hawaiian taro production is in flooded yellow or reddish above and green below. Male flowers fields similar to rice paddies (Fig. 1). Even in this case all of occupy 2.5 to 5 cm of the upper part and are separated by a the actual crop production and harvesting is done by hand. space from the female flowers which cover 2.5 to 5 cm of the lower part. The whole inflorescence is shielded by a yellow-and-green spathe about 24 cm long. Seeds are seldom set without hand-pollination although natural seed set oc curs in some cultivars (40, 44). Some forms never have stout corms or rhizomes (underground stems), but edible taro has a starchy main, cylindrical, tapered corm, ranging up to 50 cm long and 20 cm wide, from which may develop sev eral rounded lateral cormels. All are surrounded by a mass of thick, cordlike feeder roots. Externally, corms and cormels are brown-skinned, encircled by fibrous rings. Internally, the corms or cormels may be white, yellow, orange, red, brownish-red, or purple. Cut surfaces often discolor when exposed to air. There is great variation in the degree of acridity. Varieties The species is highly variable and it is claimed that there are more than 1,000 types or races varying in habit, degree of acridity, tenderness, color of plant and corm, adaptability to dry or wetland culture, and suitability tor various food uses. Var. aquatilis Hassk., with long, slender stolons and with out a swollen corm, has levels of cold tolerance and is naturalized along bodies of fresh water in the southern United States (1). In 1903, O. F. Cook (9) reported that Californians of Chinese history had "recently" started raising Chinese taro, corms of which were being imported from Canton and Hong Kong. The French name, "Taro de Chine" in Indochina, was anglicized as "dasheen". This form which produces abundant small cormels, became popular in the West Indies. Dasheen is the botanical variety C. esculenta var. globulifera R. A. Young and includes the cultivars 'Globulifera' (per haps the same as 'Trinidad*), 'Sacramento', and 'Ventura'. In Hawaii dasheen is called "Japanese" taro. Plants produc ing only a central corm are classed as "Chinese" taro (8). A taro collection started by O. W. Barrett in Puerto Rico was transferred to Brooksville, Florida, in 1906, and the United States Department of Agriculture made vigorous Fig. 1. The Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge on the Hawaiian efforts to promote dasheen growing throughout the southern Island of Kauai, a major site of wetland taro production in the state. states (20). Nonetheless, taro has never competed success Taro production by private producers is encouraged in this wildlife fully with the potato and sweetpotato in this country (18). refuge because it helps reverse the state's trend toward reduced areas In 1939, Whitney et ah (49) described 56 dryland and 31 of wetlands, a trend that poses a threat to such wetland dependent birds as the Hawaiian gallinule. wetland cultivars in Hawaii. A collection of 154 cultivars (56 Hawaiian, 62 from other Polynesian sources, 28 Mela- For the past 50 years, tropical agriculturists have tended nesian, and 8 from other countries) is maintained under to replace dryland taro plantings with cocoyams (Xantho- dryland culture by the Harold L. Lyon Arboretum in the soma spp.) which give a higher yield with less labor. upper Manoa Valley near the University of Hawaii campus Filipinos have come to prefer the mealy, mucilaginous (2) (Fig. 2). texture and the flavor of cocoyams. In tropical Africa, taro Only 5 or 6 cultivars are grown commercially in Hawaii.