VARIABILITY IN YIELD AND QUALITY CHARACTERS IN TARO (Colocasia esculenta)

Abstract

Taro (Colocasia esculenta) is widely cultivated in the tropics either as a tuber
vegetable or as a staple food. The tubers are a good source of starch. The leaves and
petioles are used as leafy vegetable, though some types are not used as leafy
vegetable because of high acridity caused by Calcium oxalate and glycosides. In
India, taro (C. esculenta) is popular all over and much variability exists in its forms.
At the NBPGR Regional station at Vellanikkara, Trichur (Kerala), 808 samples of
cultivated and wild forms oftaro were assembled from all over the country. Out of
these, 467 accessions were characterised and 57 morphotypes (treated as-M1 to
M57) were identified (Anon. 1989). These 57 morphotypes comprised 4 distinct
groups viz. C. esculenta var. antiquorum (30), C. esculenta var. esculenta (13), wild
stoloniferous (7) and semi stoloniferous (7). These morphotypes were evaluated for
taste, acridity and oxalic acid content.