Annual Report 2014 INEA: The International Network for Edible Aroids

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1 Contract Number: DCI-FOOD/2010/ SPC Adapting clonally propagated crops to climatic and commercial changes Annual Report 2014 INEA: The International Network for Edible Aroids 1

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3 Contents 1. Summary of activities and context of INEA in Partners Annual Reports for Costa Rica Nicaragua Cuba CARDI West Indies Burkina Faso Ghana Nigeria South Africa Madagascar India Indonesia The Philippines Papua New Guinea Vanuatu SPC CIRAD, France University of Maribor, Slovenia University of Madeira, Portugal DSMZ, Germany Appendix 1: INEA Third Annual Meeting, Santo, Vanuatu, 2-6 Feb

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5 List of acronyms ABVC: alomae bobone virus complex ACIAR: Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research AFLP: Amplified fragment length polymorphism APAARI: Asia Pacific Association of Agricultural Research ARC: Agricultural Research Council CARDI: Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute CBD: Convention on Biological Diversity CBDV: Colocasia bobone disease virus CePACT: Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees CFW: Constant Factor Weight CGIAR: Consultative Group on international Agricultural Research CIRAD: Centre de Coopération Internationale de Recherches Agronomiques pour le Développement CSIR: Council for Industrial and Industrial Research CTCRI: Central Tuber Crops Research Institute C1: first clonal generation C2: second clonal generation C3: third clonal generation DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid DSMZ: Leibniz Institute DSMZ- German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures DsMV: Dasheen mosaic potyvirus EQS: Eating Quality Score ELISA: Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay EU: European Union F1: first generation (seminal generation) FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FOFIFA : Centre National de la Recherche Appliquée au Développement Rural FSM: Federate States of Micronesia GA: Gibberellic acid GC: Gaz Chromatography GCMCC: German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures HPLC: High Performance Liquid Chromatography HP TLC: High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography HR: Human Resources ICAR: Indian Council of Agricultural Research INEA: International Network for Edible Aroids INIVIT: Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones de Viandas Tropicales LIPI: Indonesian Institute of Sciences (Lembaga Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia) MOU: Memorandum of Understanding MS: Murashige and Skoog (medium) NARI: National Agricultural Research Institute NIRS: Near InfraRed Spectroscopy NRCRI: National Root Crops Research Institute PhilRootCrops: Philippine Root Crop Research and Training Center PPB: Participatory Plant Breeding PPM: Plant Preservative Mixture PRA: Participatory Rural Appraisals PT clones: pathogen tested clones QTL: Quantitative Trait Loci 5

6 RAPD: random amplification of polymorphic DNA RT- PCR: Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction SPC: Secretariat of the Pacific Community SMTA: Standard Material Transfer Agreement SSR: Single Sequence Repeats TaBV: Taro bacilliform virus TaRV: Taro reovirus TANSAO: Taro Network for South Asia and Oceania Tarogen: Taro Genetic Resources Conservation and Utilization Project TaVCV: Taro vein chlorosis virus TLB: Taro Leaf Blight TTS: True taro Seeds UPMGA: Unweighted Pairwise Method VARTC: Vanuatu Agricultural Research and Technical Centre VGI: Vegetative Growth Index 6

7 1. Summary of activities and context of INEA in 2014 INEA (the International Network for Edible Aorids: brings together a global team of scientists, working directly with local growers, to develop a model for the adaptation of clonally propagated crops to climatic and commercial changes. To produce plants adapted to new environments - climate change, pest and disease outbreaks, market needs - it is necessary to broaden the genetic base. To do that successfully, requires cooperation between countries, the use of modern biotechnologies, and development of a network of scientists exchanging information and germplasm. INEA uses taro (Colocasia esculenta) and cocoyam (Xanthosoma sagittifolium) to construct a climatic adaptation model which can be transferable to other clonally propagated plant species. INEA main activities are: International network sharing resources and helping farmers with participatory breeding. International distribution of selected in vitro clones (virus indexed) and true taro seeds. Selection of genotypes from diverse crop gene pools and adapted to local conditions. National distribution of elite cultivars to smallholders. Participatory breeding for wide environmental and cropping systems adaptability. Characterization of physico- chemical properties and potential uses. The countries participating in INEA are: Burkina Faso, Costa Rica, Cuba, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Samoa, Slovenia, South Africa and Vanuatu. Also participating are two regional organisations, SPC and CARDI (Trinidad), and one international agricultural research organisations, CIRAD, (Vanuatu and France). SPC is managing the project. In 2005, SPC received from the EU funded (INCO DEV) project TANSAO (Taro Network for SouthEast Asia and the Pacific) a core sample of elite germplasm originating from different countries and hosting significant genetic diversity, including TLB resistance. Some of the so- called TANSAO lines have been used in the SPC breeding programme in Samoa to produce improved hybrids and others have been directly incorporated in to the germplasm preserved by SPC and available for international distribution. SPC was, therefore, in a good position to contribute to INEA. The first four years of the project ( ) have seen enormous activity. In 2011 and 2012, SPC has sent 50 varieties and improved hybrids to each partner many of them resistant to taro leaf blight (TLB). In all, more than 7000 plants have been distributed. These taros have been propagated in vitro in some countries and in the field in all. They are now being propagated in farmers fields and crossed with local varieties. In addition, nearly 200 plants have been sent to European research institutes for drought and virus studies. Apart from the partners, six other countries have been supplied with improved varieties: Bangladesh, Haiti, Guadaloupe, DR Congo, Mauritius and Cameroon. The Cameroon, like many other African countries, has been devastated by taro leaf blight in the last four years. The project is now going through its most important phase: the on- farm participatory evaluation of the germplasm. In most countries, introduced varieties are performing better than the local ones, especially where TLB is a problem, but further on- farm evaluation is needed regarding agronomic and taste preferences. Most partners have encountered serious delays in the implementation of their work programme due to the financial problems encountered by the projet during the first two years (see EU ROM report). However, several partners have successfully conducted the first crosses and generated thousands of true botanical seeds which will be screened and evaluated, representing an exceptional resource of genetic diversity. The work plan of INEA is broken down into eight work packages (WP), each presenting clearly identified outputs (see annex 1 of the EU contract DCI- FOOD/2010/ SPC). The main results obtained in 2014 are presented hereafter for each WP: 7

8 WP 1.1. Project management activities Partner in charge of WP 1.1: SPC Expected outputs: 1. Development of a website to support INEA. 2. Fulfilment of financial, administrative and coordination obligations. INEA has developed an efficient communication strategy to improve visibility. The Website is a repository of information ( and it serves as a library where all publications, reports and presentations are preserved and can be downloaded freely (output no. 1). For faster communication, Yahoogroups is used to exchange infotmation rapidly to all members at the same time (ediblearoids@yahoogroups.com). Finally, a Newsletter exists for progress, alerts, for sharing between partners. In 2015, INEA will continue to update the website (Grahame VH Jackson). Partners have been invited to send more photos, reports/papers/protocols. The Newsletters will increase in frequency, not just based on the quarterly reports. Also, INEA will consider using social media Facebook page; Twitter and will find new ways to advertise the project to wider audience. This might include the publication of flyers to be distributed in strategic locations and events (eg CGIAR Headquarters in Montpellier, France and ISTRC Symposium in Danning, China, Oct. 2015). The project is managed by LRD- SPC, Suva, Fiji, under the direct financial supervision of Mrs Azaria Lesa - Ah Kau, Finance and Administration Adviser, Land Resources Division. All partners met in Santo, Vanuatu, February 3-6 th 2015, to refine the strategic plan and formulate an Action Plan for 2015 (see meeting report in Appendix of the present report) (output no. 2). The project terminates at the end of However, in some years ( ) progress was slow because funds were not received on time. Because of this, there is a considerable amount of money unspent but urgently needed to implement the most important part of the project: the varietal evaluation in farmers fields. All partners present at the meeting agreed that SPC and CIRAD should contact the EU office, in Suva, Fiji, to discuss the possibility of a no- cost extension of the project for at least one year. As a matter of fact, this was a major recommendation of the EU Mid- term Evaluation (ROM by Dr Andronicos Phylactopoulos). The aim of this no cost extension would be to secure the impact of the project in participating countries. The project, as explained in the present report, is on track and is reaching most if not, all its objectives but delays have slown down its pace and the implementation of the work plan has been delayed for countries in the South as well as for European partners (CIRAD in France, Maribor in Slovenia, Madeira in Portugal, and DSMZ in Germany). WP 1.2. Scientific coordination activities Partner in charge of WP 1.2: CIRAD Expected outputs: 3. Production and circulation of annual reports. 4. Monitoring of project activities. The technical reports have been produced in time (each year, in February 2011, 2012, 2013) and circulated to all partners. The present report (2014) is the fourth technical report of INEA (output no 3). The monitoring of project activities has been improved following the ROM recommendations. CIRAD is responsible for the day- to- day scientific coordination of the project. CIRAD is also responsible for the circulation of information and the collation of scientific annual reports from the partners. Formal publications of information generated by the project are done in international journals (see appendix). Results from genetic and breeding studies, physiology, virology and the physico- chemical characterisation of the corms are being published in international journals with high impact factors. Except for WP1 and WP2, all WPs produce university degrees: two MScs and five PhDs. Renan Traoré from Burkina Faso defended his PhD in 2014 in Ouagadougou. Four PhD 8

9 candidates will defend in 2015: Willem Jansen van Rensburg in South Africa, Marion Liebrecht in Germany, Andrej Mergudus in Slovenia, Laurent Soulard in France. Progress is being monitored regularly by CIRAD to avoid partners failing to deliver their project inputs. This is also the role of the lead contractors for each work package (WP). Except for 2012 (because of financial constraints), annual meetings and on- site visits have been organised to ensure that deliverables were on time and of high quality. Research progress is evaluated in comparison with the planned delivery list and the timetable (see table 1). In order to conform to the work plan, to achieve the initial objectives and to obtain the agreement of all partners involved in the different tasks, work packages and protocols, the annual meeting provides the opportunity to discuss activities for the next period. So far, it appears that the project is delivering as planned and that there is no need to re- orient the research. The original approach and methods (as decribed in annex 1 of the contract) are relevant and are adapted to the project scientific objectives. According to the contract between the EU and SPC, the project Steering Committee (SC) is composed of one representative of each participant institution and is chaired by the project scientific co- ordinator (CIRAD). Each SC member has the empowerment from his institution to commit staff and other resources required by the project. Each country partner has nominated a national project coordinator who attends the SC meetings, and is the contact person liaising with the scientific coordinator. The SC meets annually to discuss WPs progress and plan for the coming year. Because of the limited budget and the expensive long distances flights, the SC is combined with the annual technical meeting. This has been done thrice already: during the launching meeting in Kuala Lumpur, then in Montpellier (Dec. 2013) and finally in Santo (Feb. 2015). Each time, the EU offices in Kuala Lumpur, Brussels and Suva were invited to attend these annual meetings (output no. 4). Scientific coordination is eased by the project website where scientific news, photos, papers and reports are posted on a regular basis (output no 3). A monitoring form has been devised for quarterly assessment of activities. INEA has received considerable international recognition since the project began. In 2014, two issues of a Newsletter have been written and circulated; they contain a synthesis of the quarterly reports to keep partners up- to- date with the project s results, and events of interest elsewhere. According to the ROM review, INEA needs to tell a wider audience what it is doing, and why. Partners have been encouraged to send to SPC any articles of interest on the work in their respective countries, including any information they give to local newspapers, and radio and TV stations to popularise the project s activities. A flyer describing the project and its activities will be written (during the first quarter of 2015) for mass circulation. Even though there is now an International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Forestry and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) under the auspices of FAO, there are still problems in making germplasm transfers: some countries are reluctant to share. One way is to introduce true taro seed in an effort to circumvent the administrative hurdles involved in transferring germplasm internationally. Where there are problems of various kinds preventing germplasm from reaching SPC, true botanical seeds offer an alternative strategy. It is easy to transfer, and as far as is known can be done without a threat from seed borne viruses. CIRAD is promoting the exchange of seed among partners. In 2014, true taro seeds (TTS) collected on OP hybrids in Vanuatu were introduced in Cuba, successfully germinated and plants are being raised. This has allowed the transfer of tremendous genetic diversity to a country with a very narrow genetic base for taro (Colocasia esculenta). In the future, selected plants will be used for cross pollination with local varieties or even directly cloned, if interesting, for direct transfer to producers. During the Santo meeting in February 2015, partners were invited to take back to their home countries TTS, through official quarantine channels. In 2014 and 2015, India (CTCRI) accepted to share with CIRAD and VARTC true seeds originating from controlled crosses, leading the way in INEA and showing to other partners how to proceed to rapidly broaden the genetic base of taro on a world wide basis. 9

10 Table 1. Time table of activities and indicators of project progress (done= deliverable completed; on track= on going, grey cells= expected dates of delivery): work package : semesters : wp1. project coordination & management : 1. development of a web site done 2. financial and administrative reporting delayed delayed done done 3. production and circulation of annual reports done done done done 4. monitoring of activities (annual meetings) done not done done delayed done wp2. in vitro distribution and field propagation 5. : in vitro propagation and distribution of 50 done vars 6. field propagation done 7. distribution of 30 varieties to farmers on track wp3. breeding & on- farm participatory 8. selection: conduct controlled crosses done 9. raise f1 hybrids done 10. distribute c1s to farmers on track 11. one PhD (South Africa) on track wp4. DNA (SSRs & SNP) fingerprinting: 12. fingerprinting of elite cultivars done 13. genetic distances between parents done 14. study segregations of f 1 s, C1s, C2s, C3s on track 15. new markers developed and mapped on track 16. establish and harvest first heritability trial done C1 done C2 on track C3 17. establish and harvest second heritability done trial 18. identify potential major genes on track 19. one PhD on genetic diversity (Burkina faso) done one PhD phd on defended association on genetic studies studies (France) of on track 21. four papers published in international delayed journals wp5. drought resistance studies : 22. establishment of field experiments done done done 23. evaluation of morpho- agronomic traits on track 24. physiological and biochemical markers on track analysis 25. corms from cultivars stressed analysed on track 26. traits and markers association with drought delayed 27. one MSc on drought tolerance (portugal) delayed 28. two papers published wp6. physico chemical characterisation : 29. intra clonal variation done 30. variation between selected cultivars done 31. variation within and between full- sibs delayed families 32. drought effect on corm characteristics delayed 33. one PhD defended (Slovenia) on track 34. two papers published in international one done journals wp7. viruses detection and identification : 35. diversity of viruses and strains delayed 36. develop and optimize virus testing protocols done 37. raise parents and seedlings delayed 38. detect viruses in parents and seedlings on track 39. one PhD defended (Germany) on track 40. formulate guidelines for exchange of seeds on track 41. two papers published in international delayed journals wp8. on- farm trials and participatory activities : 42. selected genotypes distributed to farmers on track 43. selected genotypes evaluated by farmers on track 44. c1s propagated and distributed to farmers on track 45. on- farm trial harvested and quality tests on track 46. done one MSc defended (Papua New Guinea) done 47. two papers published in international journals 10

11 The scientific coordinator (Vincent Lebot) participated to the Insternational Symposium of Horticulture in Brisnane (Australia) in August 2014 and presented a keynote address entitled: Optimizing the utilization of plant genetic resources for climatic changes adaptation in the Pacific: the need for a new approach, describing the approach used by INEA in the world and its relevance for the Pacific. The paper is in appendix of this report and has been accepted for publication in one of the forthcoming issues of Scientia Horticulturae. WP 2: In vitro propagation of selected varieties for distribution to farmers Partner in charge of WP2: SPC Expected outputs: 6. International distribution of 50 selected genotypes to all country partners. 7. Field propagation of introduced genotypes, evaluation, comparison with local ones. 8. Distribution of 30 selected genotypes to 10 villages per country (5 farmers per village). Output no. 6 was successfully delivered in 2012 (see 2011 and 2012 annual reports). Outputs no. 7 and 8 have been delayed due to financial constraints during the first two years of the project (2011 & 2012) but partners are now doing their best to speed up the field propagation work. SPC is contributing to the taro breeding programme in Samoa. Mr Tolo Iosefa is a PhD candidate at the University of the South Pacific and his research will focus on breeding for drought resistance. The virologist, Amit Sukal (who attended the meeting in Montpellier in 2013, has left for further studies, and Semi Cakaunitakuki has taken over taro indexing duties. SPC is now collaborating with DSMZ for developing new diagnostic tools for virsues detection. Recent field evaluation of introduced varieties in partners countries are summarised in Table 2. Table 2. Best introduced varieties in farmers fields. Country Ranked 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Costa Rica SM 128 HW 37 SM 151 SM 80 SM 158 Nicaragua Cuba C3-10 Asau Lormak Boklua Vaimuga St Vincent IND 24 SM 80 SM 83 Burkina Faso SM 115 TH 12 PNG 10 SM 135 PNG 11 Ghana Nigeria South Africa Madagascar Soagnara Mavo SM 132 SM 115 SM 80 India IND 06 TH 10 TH 07 SM 116 SM 151 Indonesia Philippines SM 111 SM 116 SM 120 SM 151 MAL 112 Papua New Guinea C5-353 SM 148 SM 151 SM 80 SM 43 Vanuatu 11

12 WP 3: Breeding and on- farm participatory selection and evaluation Partner in charge of WP 3: University of Maribor Expected outputs: 9. Controlled crosses conducted in each participating country. 10. Hybrid seeds generated and F 1 hybrids raised. 11. Hybrid clones distributed to 5 farmers in 10 villages (total of 50 farmers per country). 12. One PhD defended on taro breeding in South Africa (Mr WS Jansen van Rensburg). The overall objective of the breeding programme is to produce different varieties tolerant to TLB, with drought resistance and good quality corms, to exchange them internationally and to distribute them to farmers to make adaptation to climatic changes possible. India, Vanuatu and Samoa are presently developing protocols for other countries to follow where there is breeding expertise. Seeds from the Vanuatu programme have been distributed to partners. Regarding outputs no. 9 and 10, Samoa, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Madagascar, Nigeria, and Costa Rica have successfully started their breeding programmes and are now raising F1 seedlings. It is hoped that Cuba, CARDI, Nicaragua, Burkina Faso and Ghana will be involved soon in breeding activities. The recent meeting in Santo was an opportunity for partners to learn breeding techniques. Because of delays encountered in the years 2011 and 2012 due to financial constraints, the implementation of breeding programmes has encountered some serious difficulties. Output no. 11 will not be delivered in time and a no cost- extension of the project is needed to realise this particular activity. However, country reports presented during the last annual meeting in Santo (see appendix 1) indicate that this part of the work plan will successfully start in 2015 in most countries. The University of Maribor (Anton Ivancic) is collaborating with all countries to develop a breeding scheme adapted to each partner, according to the characteristics and constraints of the local germplasm. Maribor is also developing protocols using visual tools which can be used on- farm with growers to select genotypes and training local scientists in breeding techniques. In all countries, elite varieties received from SPC in have been successfully field propagated by partners in In some countries, they have been successfully inter- crossed with local varieties (India, Nigeria, Madagascar) and it is hoped that this will also be done in other countries in Crosses are conducted during the hottest period of the year, at the beginning and/or at the end of the rainy season. The main criteria for selecting the parental materials are their agronomic performances and good taste. Following the protocol posted on the website ( inflorescences are hand pollinated. During the recent annual meeting in Santo, Vanuatu, A. Ivancic gave two presentations on breeding strategies and demonstrated the techniques in the field at VARTC. It is hoped that all country partners will exchange TTS in 2015 in order to initiate an international convergent- divergent breeding scheme (exchange of TTS and recurrent selection), introduce allelic diversity and strengthen the position of taro towards forthcoming climatic changes. CIRAD and Maribor will liaise with all country partners to organize the exchange of TTS between partners. In Vanuatu, hybrids resulting from crosses between Asian and Vanuatu parents are now in their third clonal generation. An MSc student from France (Aurélie Lequeux- Sauvage) will conduct a full morpho- agro characterisation of these hybrids in Vanuatu (VARTC) (approx genotypes) to see if it is possible to correlate them with the F1s (measured in 2012). The idea, if found feasible, is to speed up and optimise the breeding scheme with an early selection process. Mr Willem Jansen van Rensburg will defend his PhD in South Africa in March 2015 (output no. 12). 12

13 WP 4: DNA fingerprinting of varieties and full- sib families and heritability studies Partner in charge of WP 4: CIRAD Expected outputs: 13. DNA fingerprints of elite varieties used as parents in crosses. 14. Genetic distances determined between parents. 15. Segregation of molecular markers studied within and between seven full- sib progenies. 16. Markers associated to major genes, if any, identified. 17. First heritability trial established and harvested. 18. Second heritability trial established and harvested. 19. Potential major genes controlling corm quality identified (e.g. starch, sugars) 20. One PhD defended on the genetic diversity of taro (from Burkina Faso (R. Traoré) 21. One PhD defended on genetic studies related to physico- chemical characteristics (L. Soulard). 22. Four papers published in international journals. The overall objective of INEA is to develop a new approach for strengthening smallholders vegetatively propagated root crops capacity to adapt to climatic changes (see paper by V. Lebot published in the Journal of Root Crops in appendix). This is possible if sufficient allelic diversity exists within farmers varietal portfolios. As genetic diversity is the basis for adaptation, it is assumed that farmers will be able to do the right choices if we give them opportunities to do so. However, in order to assess exactly the extent of genetic diversity that farmers have at the beginning of the project, we do need to analyse countries germplasm collections with DNA markers. All partners, except Cuba and Nicaragua, sent their samples to CIRAD for DNA fingerprinting. Nigeria sent only one sample. Overall, CIRAD fingerprinted 374 taro accessions (output no. 13). Data analysis of the SSRs results allowed the determination of genetic distances between these varieties under the form of a Neighbour joing tree (output no. 14). These results are very valuable for partners as they now have a good assessment of the genetic distances existing between the parents (local varieties) used in their breeding programmes. Those who failed to send samples (Cuba, Nicaragua and Nigeria) will miss this important information. Previous taro breeding programmes based on parents with narrow genetic base have failed to deliver interesting results. In order to measure the impact of the INEA approach in farmers fields, all varieties introduced from SPC are being fingerprinted with SSR markers to assess the genetic diversity sent to country partners for distribution to farmers. The scientific coordinator recently sent to CIRAD (Hana Chair) the list of the ca. 100 accessions sent to countries, and depending on those already fingerprinted by CIRAD, the remainder will be sent for analysis in CIRAD (in Vanuatu and in France) is conducting genetic analysis studies involving: correlation between morphological traits, heritabilty of phenotypic traits (morphological and chemical traits), additions to the genetic map, and the identification of Quantitative Traits Loci related to traits of agronomic importance, mainly those of corm quality. Approximately 1890 taro plants, corresponding to 13 full sib progenies, have been fingerprinted with SSRs (output no. 15). The same plants have been morphologically described in order to identify markers associated to major gene (output no. 16). This work is on track and will be completed towards the end of A heritability trial has been planted with these 13 full sibs families (output no. 17). Vegetative Growth Iindexes (VGIs) have been measured for F1s (seminal generation), C1s (first clonal generation), C2s (second clonal generation) and correlations made between them, and between C1 families and genetic data. We observe a close correlation for major phenotypic characteristics, eg fresh corm weight, plant height, leaf length. Correlations are also high when individual plant comparisons are made between F1 and C1s VGIs and genetic data for dry matter, corm weight and no. of stolons. C2 data is now being analysed (output no. 18). The third clonal generation (C3) is also 13

14 being measured in Vanuatu (VARTC) for vegetative traits and will be measured again at harvest in June 2015 to compare the data with the F1s in order to see how the existing scheme could be shorten to speed up the whole breeding process (MSc Aurélie Lequeux- Sauvage). CIRAD is now developing new markers for taro called SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism). These are powerful markers that will be added to the existing SSRs to saturate the genetic map. Once the morphological description of the C2s is completed (PhD thesis of Laurent Soulard), it will represent another replication of measurements for each of the genotypes characterised in the F1 and C1 generations, improving the accuracy of the morphological data. Usually, this type of experiments is based on different plots of the same genotypes cloned within the same field but in the present case, it corresponds to replicates in time: the same genotype is replanted every year and measured again (F1, C1, C2 and this year, C3). It is assumed that these replications will give a better assessment of the genetic values of the hybirds and therefore improve selection efficiency (output 19 planned for late 2015). Renan Traoré, defended successfully his PhD at the University of Ouagadougou in February 2014 (output no. 20). Laurent Soulard will defend his PhD in Montpellier, France, in December 2015 (output no. 21). Out of four planned in this WP, a first paper on family heritabilites (Soulard et al) will be sent to an international journal in March A second paper on the world wide genetic diversity study (Traoré et al.) is also planned for submission before june 2015 and others will follow (output no. 22 on track). WP 5: Drought resistance of elite varieties and seedlings Partner in charge of WP 5: University of Madeira Expected outputs: 23. Field assays for drought tolerance studies established. 24. Morpho- agronomic traits associated with drought tolerance accurately identified and evaluated. 25. Physiological and biochemical markers analysed and correlation studies completed. 26. Chemical analysis of drought stressed plants, or showing drought tolerance. 27. Association of different traits and markers with drought tolerance studied. 28. One MSc defended on taro drought tolerance. 29. Two papers published in international journals. The present work involves the receipt of taro accessions from partners, their multiplication, aclimatisation and pre- assessment of stress tolerance, their screening for drought tolerance, the development of assays for study of drought tolerance, a physico- chemical screening and finaly, the results analysis and their publication. A first communication will be presented at a conference in Amsterdam in June Taro water requirements are between 2 and 16 L/m 2, and therefore its drought tolerance is of concern, especially in relation to climate change. However, in the absence of a model for water requirements, crop traits and markers to determine drought tolerance, there is a need to develop a standard experimental protocol. So far, four experiments have been conducted in Madeira leading to the screening of 34 accessions for drought tolerance (output no. 23). These trials include varieties from the Canary Islands, Madeira and SPC. The plants were given either a full amount of water or 56% and 45% of their need. Unfortunately, the Drought Tolerance (DTI) and Drought Sensitivity Indices (DSI) are not as discriminatory as needed to differentiate accurately varieties performances (ouput no. 24 not reachable). 14

15 However, results showed that 10 accessions presented drought tolerance, including three TANSAO lines from the SPC collection MAL/10, IND/16 and IND/31. Twelve accessions will be studied further in 2015, including accessions that are tolerant, resistant, and sensitive to drought, and which have both high and low yields. These 12 accessions can be used by partners in field trials for comparisons with their own local varieties. Corm samples have been sent to Maribor for physico- chemical analysis to see if there are links between composition, quality and drought (outputs no. 25 and 26 on track). It is hope that outputs nos. 27, 28 and 29 will be reached before the end of the project. WP 6: Physico- chemical characterisation of corms of selected genotypes. Partner in charge of WP 6: University of Maribor Expected outputs: 30. Intra- clonal variation of chemotypes studied and determined. 31. Physico- chemical characteristics/variation of varieties correlated with molecular markers. 32. Variation between and within full- sib families studied and correlated with molecular markers. 33. Assessment of variation due to drought and correlation with molecular markers analysed. 34. One PhD thesis defended on the influence of stress on corm quality (A. Mergudus). 35. Two papers published in international journals. The University of Maribor is still waiting for corm samples from Nigeria, Philippines, South Africa, Cuba, Burkina Faso and CARDI. Andrej Mergudus is a PhD candidate doing the work on the mineral analysis of taro corms, under the title Temporal dynamics and chemical variation of different parts of taro corms (Colocasia esculenta). The objective is to have information on the accumulation of nutrients and toxic substances in different sections of the taro corms at different times in the growth cycle (output no. 30). A paper entitled: Variation of mineral composition in different parts of taro (Colocasia esculenta) corms, and has been published in the Journal of Food Chemistry (see appendix). The study involved 13 accessions from different islands of Vanuatu. Analyses were done monthly on the lower, central, upper and marginal parts of the corms for the following: K, P, Mg, Ca, Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu, Cd, Pb and Cr, starch, proteins and nitrates. Analyses began at five and finished at 13 months after planting. Significant and large variations exist between the different sections for nitrates content. However, phosphorus content is similar up to ten months and then increases. Starch starts increasing at six months and decreases after nine to ten months. Andrej Mergudus will submit another paper to an international journal this year (output no. 35) and will defend his PhD at the university of Maribor in 2015 (output no. 34). It is hoped that outputs nos. 31, 32 and 33 will be reached before the end of the project. WP 7: Virus detection and identification on seedlings from true taro seeds. Partner in charge of WP 7: DSMZ Expected outputs: 36. Virus diversity study conducted on viruses/virus strains in each of the participating countries. 37. Protocols for virus indexing seedling populations of taro fully optimised. 38. Parents and seedlings are raised successfully. 39. Information on the rate of transmission of viruses in true seeds. 40. Guidelines for the safe movement/exchange of true taro seeds. 41. One PhD defended on viruses identification/indexation studies (Ms Marion Liebrecht) 42. Two papers published in international journals. 15

16 Many countries have not sent yet to DSMZ their leaf samples for the virus diversity study and output no. 36 is delayed. DSMZ has succeeded to transfer a tenuivirus from a sick Bobone- like plant in PNG to Nicotiana benthamiana. Looking at the molecular sequences it is a tenuivirus. This tenuivirus has been found in Solomon Islands, and it was mechanically transmitted. The tenuivirus is always present in samples of Alomae from Solomon Islands, but it has not been found in PNG. DSMZ isolated small RNA from plants with Alomae from the Solomon Islands. These are produced as an immune response when taro plants are infected. The Bobone virus (CBDV) was reconstructed, both from PNG and Solomon Islands. CBDV is always present in samples that are said to be Bobone or Alomae (output no. 37). Taro also has badnavirus sequences integrated into the genome but there is no evidence that these sequences can make an episomal virus. It appears that the integrated sequences are old, and there is no evidence that they can be activated. CBDV has been found in Tarophagus, the planthopper that is thought to be the vector of the virus. True botanical seeds were sent from CIRAD to DSMZ and tests on seeds are being done to determine if viruses will be present in seedlings (outputs nos. 38 and 39 on track). It is suggested that the FAO guidelines that were written in the early 80s should be revised to take into consideration the latest research findings (output no. 40). Marion Liebrecht will defend her PhD before the end of 2015 (output no. 41) and two papers will be submitted to internantional journals (output no. 42 on track). WP 8: On- farm participatory selection of elite varieties and hybrids in C1 generation Partners in charge of WP8: CIRAD and Maribor Expected outputs: 43. Introduced elite genotypes distributed to farmers and propagated in their plots. 44. Introduced elite genotypes harvested and assessed by farmers 45. C1s (first clonal generation) propagated and distributed to farmers. 46. On- farm trials harvested and participatory evaluation of C1 quality conducted. 47. On MSc defended in Papua New Guinea (Mr Jeffrey Waki). 48. Two papers published in international journals. In all country partners except Vanuatu, varieties introduced from SPC have been distributed to growers (output no. 43) and in most countries, harvests have been conducted and assessed by farmers (output no. 44). In Costa Rica, the best 30 varieties were given to farmers and at harvest they were evaluated for taste. This was done in four regions and ten varieties were chosen. The project worked with 50 farmers in six different regions, selected ten varieties, and is continuing with the most interested 20 farmers. The farmers are likely to retain one or two varieties, but not the same ones throughout all regions. In the West Indies (CARDI), the work under INEA is being done in St Lucia and St Vincent. The SPC introductions have been described and multiplied and those with stolons were eliminated. After multiplication, the 45 varieties that survived introduction were distributed. Not all farmers had the same varieties: lots of ten varieties, five of each, were selected at random for each farmer. The market wants, low suckering plants, and corms that are compact with white flesh. It is not known yet if introduced varieties will satisfy these requirements. 16

17 In Ghana, two workshops were held with Ejisu/Juaben and Atiwa communities. A PRA was carried out which showed that TLB has had a devastating impact. The SPC introductions were propagated and when the plants had reached the 4-5 leaf stage farmers were given five varieties, five of each genotype. Distributions were made in eight towns and villages, to 60 farmers altogether (41 men and 19 women), making a total of 1585 plants which are now being raised and evaluated. In Burkina Faso, 20 introduced varieties were selected according to taste, yield, stolons number and flowering. Some from Hawaii were found to be acrid. In Nigeria, varieties cannot go directly to farmers. To accelerate the evaluation of taro for TLB tolerance, the SPC genotypes were evaluated for resistance to TLB in four locations, to compare them with the local ones and to evaluate farmers acceptability of the SPC varieties. The work is done with two cooperative community groups, at Isiukwuato and Nsukka. In South Africa, taro is grown by women in the east of the country. The eddoe type is preferred. The SPC collection has been evaluated, but as it does not contain eddoes and the dasheens have a long growth cycle, the farmers are not as enthusiastic as might be. There are two multiplication sites, at Umbumbulu and Richmond. Farmers prefer local varieties as they have higher dry matter content and are drought tolerant. Also, local varieties are doing better than the SPC introductions because of their shorter growing cycle. In Madagascar, INEA works with farmers in the northeast, southeast, south highland and Middle west zones. Introduced varieties were planted with local varieties. The local varieties appear to have done better in the farmer trials compared to the introductions but the yields were much higher in the lowlands than in the highlands. In India, 32 SPC introductions have been distributed to five locations in the state of Odisha. Seven lines had good yields (IND/06; THA/10; THA/07; SM116; SM/151; SM/157 and JP/02). Many successful hybridisations have been made between local and introduced varieties, including those from Samoa and Indonesia. In Indonesia, LIPI is experiencing difficulties in sending samples to Germany and Portugal, although samples have been sent for DNA fingerprinting to France, and for chemical analysis to Slovenia. The director of LIPI is not willing to give permission for the plant material, including seed, to be sent overseas (even under the SMTA). In Papua New Guinea, ten communities in four provinces - Madang, East New Britain, Eastern highlands and Morobe are involved and in each province there are 3-7 trials. Altogether, there are 22 trials. So far, harvests have been made in Madang and East New Britain sites. In the Madang trials, the highest yielding varieties were PNG advanced breeding line (C5-353) and the selection 319/41, followed by Samoan breeding lines. Eating qualities were good to excellent and there was a positive response from the farmers concerning the new lines. Jeffrey Waki submitted his thesis for his MPhil in early December The thesis is titled: Investigating Gene Flow Between Wild and Cultivated Taros in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. Results from examiners are expected to come in early In the Philippines, about 2200 headsets of 37 varieties were distributed to about 60 farmers in Leyte Province. In 2014, a nursery was established and other municipalities received varieties, some on other islands (eg Cebu). Taste tests have been done in districts around Maasin City (Leyte) and some of the introductions were given good scores. In general, taro proved to be resilient to Typhoons; the leaves are shredded but the plants quickly produce new healthy ones. 17

18 In Samoa, TLB is not longer a priority in the breeding programme and attention has turned to climate change. The aim of cycle 8 (of the recurrent selection programme initiated in 1993), is to produce progeny with drought tolerance. Some of the parents are previous breeders lines and three are from the TANSAO collection. Some of the selected hybrids had an Indonesia cultivar as a parent, and one had a Malaysian cultivar as a parent. The crosses with the Malaysian lines are interesting as they grow well under dry conditions, are resistant to TLB, with white flesh and superior taste. Why the Malaysian taros are drought resistant is not known but it is observed that they have very small lamina and therefore limited transpiration. In Vanuatu, there are 10 local cultivars of Xanthosoma sagittifolium which are known to represent wide genetic diversity and from these 150 seeds were produced and selections made, reducing the number of plants to 49 hybrids, which are still undergoing evaluation. From the results of the progeny evaluations seven of the original parents have been selected for further crossing. Research is being done in Vanuatu to breed taro with high flavonoids content. The Papuana beetle population is increasing, so the question is can flavonoids help to create a natural defence against this pest? Farmers observe that the coloured varieties are less attacked by Papuana beetles than the white- fleshed varieties. HP- TLC is being used to analyse the flavonoids present. They are antioxidants, related to apigenin and luteolin. However, these flavonoids are rare, about 10 % of the taro accessions. 18

19 2. Partners Annual Reports for Costa Rica Dr. Francisco Saborío, University of Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica WP2 Germplasm The 50 genotypes received from SPC and the 9 genotypes collected from Costa Rica have been maintained in a collection in vitro, in the greenhouse and at the field during In vitro, five jars of each genotype are maintained; in the greenhouse 4 pots of each plant are kept; and 12 plants of each genotype were grown at the University of Costa Rica research station (EEAFBM). CODES Costa Rica Original Costa Rica Original Co 1 BL/SM 120 Co 26 BL/SM 46 Co 2 BL/SM 80 Co 27 BL/SM 111 Co 3 BL/SM 136 Co 28 BL/SM 116 Co 4 BL/SM 147 Co 29 BL/SM 128 Co 5 BL/SM 152 Co 30 BL/SM 135 Co 6 BL/SM 132 Co 31 BL/SM 138 Co 7 BL/SM 149 Co 32 BL/SM 148 Co 8 BL/SM 158 Co 33 BL/HW 08 Co 9 BL/SM 157 Co 34 BL/HW 37 Co 10 BL/SM 143 Co 35 BL/PNG 09 Co 11 BL/SM 151 Co 36 BL/PNG 11 Co 12 BL/SM 43 Co 37 BL/PNG 13 Co 13 CE/THA 09 Co 38 CE/THA 05 Co 14 CE/THA 10 Co 39 CE/THA 07 Co 15 CE/THA 24 Co 40 CE/THA 21 Co 16 CE/MAL 12 Co 41 CE/THA 30 Co 17 CE/MAL 14 Co 42 CE/MAL 13 Co 18 BL/PNG 03 Co 43 CE/IND 06 Co 19 BL/PNG 08 Co 44 CE/IND 10 Co 20 BL/PNG 10 Co 45 CE/IND 12 Co 21 CE/IND 08 Co 46 CE/IND14 Co 22 CE/IND 20 Co 47 CE/IND 19 Co 23 BL/HW 12 Co 48 CE/IND 31 Co 24 BL/HW 26 Co 49 CA/JP 01 Co 25 CA/JP 03 Co 50 CA/JP 08 Accession Co51 to Co59 are local varieties. WP3. Breeding and Evaluation a. Harvest of second generation of Germplasm Bank. From May 2013 until February 2014 the second generation of the genotypes received from SPC and the genotypes collected from Costa Rica were cultivated at the University of Costa Rica Research Station (EEAFBM). Twelve plants of each genotypes Co- 1 to Co- 59 were cultivate for 9 months. Five plants of each genotype were evaluated and photographed. 19

20 3 Average corm weight in Kg Kg Genoqpo Figure 1. Comparison of average weight of corms per plant. Accessions were cultivated at the Research Station of the University of Costa Rica form may 2013 to February b. Third planting generation at the Research Station of the University of Costa Rica EEFBM On May 2014 a third generation of the bank germplasm was planted at the Research Station of the University of Costa Rica (EEFBM). Twelve plants of each accession were planted. c. Genetic crosses. During the cultivation of the third generation of the bank germoplasm at the EEFBM, 129 crosses were made among the selected accessions: Co 4, Co 8, Co 11, Co 26, Co 28, Co 29, Co 34, Co 37, Co 44, Co 48 and Co 51. Table 1. Genetic crosses made among the selected accessions of the Colocasia germplasm bank. Male x Female indicate the number of the accession used Number of cross Co- 1 Co- 2 Co- 3 Co- 4 Co- 6 Co- 7 Co- 8 Co- 11 Co- 12 Co- 13 Co- 14 Co- 15 Co- 16 Co- 17 Co- 19 Co- 20 Co- 21 Co- 21e Co- 25 Co- 26 Co- 27 Co- 28 Co- 29 Co- 30 Co- 31 Co- 32 Co- 33 Co- 37 Co- 42 Co- 43 Co- 44 Co- 45 Co- 47 Co- 48 Co- 49 Co- 51 Co- 53 Co- 54 Co- 55 Co- 56 Co- 58 Co- 59 Co- 60 Date of cross Male X female Stage of female flower Pollen age in days Presence of seeds Number of seeds 1 01/07/2014 8x Dead 2 01/07/2014 8x Yes > /07/ x Dead 4 01/07/2014 8x Yes /07/ x Dead 6 01/07/ x Dead 7 01/07/ x Yes /07/ x8 2 0 Dead 9 01/07/ x8 4 0 Yes 10 01/07/ x Yes /07/ x Yes /07/ x Without fruit 13 17/07/ x None 14 17/07/ x Dead 15 17/07/ x8 2 2 None 16 21/07/ x Dead 17 21/07/ x Yes /07/ x Yes > /07/ x Dead 20 22/07/2014 8x Dead 20

21 21 22/07/2014 8x Yes > /07/2014 8x Yes /07/ x8 2 0 None 23a 24/07/2014 8x Yes /07/2014 8x8 2 2 Dead 25 24/07/ x8 3 0 Dead 26 24/07/2014 8x None 27 24/07/ x Dead 28 not done 29 not done 30 31/07/2014 4x8 2 0 Dead 31 31/07/2014 4x Without fruit 32 31/07/2014 4x26 0 Without fruit 33 31/07/2014 4x11 0 Yes > /07/2014 4x Yes /07/ x Yes /07/ x8 2 2 Without fruit 37 31/07/ x Without fruit 38 06/08/ x Yes /08/2014 4x8 3 0 Without fruit 40 06/08/2014 4x None 41 06/08/2014 4x None 42 06/08/2014 4x None 43 06/08/ x4 5 0 Yes /08/ x8 Without fruit 45 12/08/ x Without fruit 46 12/08/ x yes 47 12/08/ x yes 48 12/08/ x yes > /08/ x4 2 0 None 50 12/08/ x None 51 23/08/ x None 52 23/08/ x Dead 53 23/08/ x yes /08/ x yes /08/ x yes > /08/ x None 57 23/08/ x8 3 0 Without fruit 58 23/08/ x8 3 0 None 59 23/08/2014 8x yes > /08/2014 4x4 4 0 yes /08/ x yes /08/ x yes > /08/ x None 64 30/08/ x None 65 30/08/ x yes /08/ x None 67 30/08/ x None 68 30/08/ x None 69 30/08/ x8 3 0 None 70 30/08/ x8 4 0 None 71 09/09/ x None 72 09/09/ x None 73 09/09/ x None 74 09/09/ x None 21

22 75 09/09/ x None 76 09/09/ x None 77 09/09/ x8 2 4 None 78 09/09/ x4 3 4 None 79 09/09/ x None 80 09/09/ x None 81 16/09/ x None 82 16/09/ x None 83 16/09/ x None 84 16/09/ x None 85 16/09/ x None 86 25/09/2014 4x None 87 25/09/2014 4x None 88 25/09/2014 4x si /09/ x4 2 0 si > /09/ x4 2 0 to be harvested 91 25/09/ x8 3 0 to be harvested 92 25/09/2014 8x8 2 0 yes /09/ x yes /09/ x yes /10/2014 8x8 2 0 yes /10/2014 8x yes /10/2014 8x None 98 08/10/2014 8x yes /10/ x yes /10/ x /10/ x yes /10/ x None /10/ x yes /10/ x None /10/ x None /10/ x None /10/ x None /10/ x None /10/ x None /10/2014 8x yes /10/2014 8x yes /10/ x yes /10/ x yes > /10/ x None /10/ x yes > /10/ x None /10/ x yes > /10/ x8 1 0 yes > /10/ x /10/ x /10/ x /10/ x /10/ x /10/ x /10/ x /10/ x /10/ x /10/ x /10/ x

23 d. Hybrid evaluation. From the results of the cultivation of the first generation of the germplasm bank at the research station and the evaluation of the taste of each of the accessions, 7 accessions were selected: Co 8, Co10, Co11, Co17, Co27, Co 34 y Co54. During the second cultivation cycle (May February 2014) genetic crosses were made among the selected accessions. Seeds coming from these crosses were germinated in sterile soil and then planted at the research station on August In Table 2 it is indicated the code of the hybrid, the parents (males x female) used in the cross. Table 2. Hybrids planted on August 2014 at the research station of the University of Costa Rica, Alajuela, Costa Rica. CODE OF HYBRID CROSS Number of plants planted (male x female) H2 Co17x Co 10 7 H4 Co 10x Co 11 4 H5 Co 10x Co H6 Co 11x Co H11 Co 10x Co H13 Co 27x Co H16 Co 17x Co 27 6 H25 Co 54x Co H26 Co 10x Co 8 6 H14 Co 8x Co 11 6 WP 4. Genetic Analysis. Molecular characterization of Xanthosoma species with microsatellites. Oligos (Table 3) were synthesized by Macrogen Inc., in South Korea based on the work done by Catheras et al, Table 3. Microsatellites used for characterization of Xanthosoma species. The primers were obtained from CIRAD. microsatellites of Xanthosoma 1 mxscir05_f GCG CAT TAT TAA CGA ATA TC 2 mxscir05_r GTC ATC TAT GGC TAT CAC CT 3 mxscir07_f GGA CTG GGA GTC TGA GTA G 4 mxscir07_r CCT TTC CCC TCA CTA TAA A 5 mxscir10_f GAT GTC TGT AGT GGC CTA GT 6 mxscir10_r AAT TAA GTT GGG TGG TAG AT 7 mxscir11_f AAT TCT TAG CAG CAT TGT TA 8 mxscir11_r CAT TCG TAT CAA CTT CCT TT 9 mxscir12_f TAC ATT TCC ATT GCC ATC 10 mxscir12_r CAA ATT AAA GAG GGA GAC AG 11 mxscir13_f GTT TCC TTT ATT CGT TGA TG 12 mxscir13_r GTA GTG GCT GAG AAT TGA AA 13 mxscir14_f TAC CCT ACA TTT GGG ATC T 14 mxscir14_r TTT TGG CTT TAG GTC TAT TC 15 mxscir16_f CTT ATT GAT GCC GAG AAT AC 16 mxscir16_r TTC CTC ACA ATA TGT TCT CAT 17 mxscir19_f CAA CTT GTG TAT CCT ACA TCC 18 mxscir19_r GCG TGG TTT ATG TGT ATC TT 19 mxscir20_f CCC TTA TTG CTG TTT TCA 20 mxscir20_r CAT ATC TCT TCC TCT CAC CA 23

24 Table 4. Samples used for the analysis.. Sample species CODE A mafaffa Tm01-1 B mafaffa Tm01-2 C mafaffa Tm01-3 D robustum Tb01-1 E robustum Tb01-2 F robustum Tb01-3 G mafaffa Tm23-1 H mafaffa Tm23-2 I mafaffa Tm23-3 J Tb51-1 K Tb51-2 L Tb51-3 M sagittifolium Ta03-1 N robustum Tb17-1 O mafaffa Tm21-1 P silvestre Ts40-1 Q robustum TL (- ) NEGATIVO PCR: Master Mix:10x, Dntp s at 10mM, 10uM of each primer, 25mM of MgCl 2, 20mg/ml of BSA and 5u/ul of Taq Polymerase. Termocycler Veriti, desaturation at 95 C for 4min, 30 cycles at 94 C for 30s, 52 C for 45s and 72 C for 1,5min, elongation at 72 C for 8min. Electrophoresis with 2,0% agarose at 75V. WP8 On farm evaluation A. Evaluation of 30 selected genotypes at 51 farms located in 5 different major regions: Bijagual, Cóbano, Jiménez, San Carlos and Turrubares. Cultivation was done from August 2013 to February Table 5. Average weight in Kg of the main corm of each accession harvested in five dfferent regions across Costa Rica. In each region at least three farms were harvested and 2 plants were evaluated at each farm. The blue lanes indicate the accessions selected by the farmers Accession Bijagual Cóbano Jiménez San Carlos Turrubares Co- 1 0,28 0,30 0,54 0,60 0,53 Co- 2 0,83 1,03 1,49 0,00 Co- 3 0,54 1,58 0,00 Co- 4 0,00 0,25 0,67 0,62 Co- 6 0,54 0,42 0,34 1,16 0,91 Co- 7 0,39 0,92 0,00 Co- 8 0,32 0,23 0,58 1,09 0,90 Co- 11 0,39 0,33 0,63 0,95 0,66 Co- 12 0,61 0,62 0,66 1,04 0,44 Co- 13 0,38 0,86 0,00 0,44 Co- 14 0,41 0,41 1,04 0,84 0,88 Co- 15 0,50 0,19 0,66 1,19 0,91 Co- 16 0,43 0,23 0,58 0,82 0,45 Co- 17 0,39 0,23 0,94 0,58 0,46 24

25 Co- 19 0,44 0,38 0,83 0,70 0,45 Co- 20 0,68 0,29 0,38 0,62 0,65 Co- 21 0,13 0,24 0,34 0,24 0,38 Co- 21e 0,15 0,19 0,63 0,63 Co- 25 0,09 0,08 0,18 0,23 0,46 Co- 26 0,53 0,48 0,62 0,78 0,82 Co- 27 0,59 0,52 1,04 1,16 0,43 Co- 28 0,76 0,51 1,40 1,22 0,45 Co- 29 0,84 0,88 1,20 1,65 0,55 Co- 30 0,69 0,48 0,65 1,28 0,60 Co- 31 0,62 1,07 0,51 Co- 32 0,51 0,37 0,70 0,91 0,48 Co- 33 0,37 0,35 0,51 0,62 0,49 Co- 34 0,38 4,05 1,19 Co- 37 0,50 0,34 0,45 0,63 0,63 Co- 42 0,53 0,31 0,98 0,87 0,69 Co- 43 0,13 0,27 Co- 44 0,40 0,38 1,04 0,62 0,48 Co- 45 0,26 0,21 0,47 0,43 0,28 Co- 47 0,28 0,47 Co- 48 0,33 0,83 0,34 Co- 34 Corm (Kg) Cóbano Jimenez Turrubares EEFBM Figure 2. Comparison of the average weight of the main corm of two plants of accession Co 34 grown in four regions in Costa Rica from August 2013 to February At EEFBM the plants were grown for 9 months. Farmers evaluation of 30 accessions: Cóbano Kg Co- 1 Co- 4 Co- 6 Co- 8 Co- 11 Co- 12 Co- 13 Co- 14 Co- 15 Co- 16 Co- 17 Co- 19 Co- 20 Co- 21 Co- 21e Co- 25 Co- 26 Co- 27 Co- 28 Co- 29 Co- 30 Co- 31 Co- 32 Co- 33 Co- 34 Co- 37 Co- 42 Co- 44 Co- 45 Co- 48 Genoqpos evaluados 25

26 Co- 1 Co- 2 Co- 3 Co- 6 Co- 7 Co- 8 Co- 11 Co- 12 Co- 14 Co- 15 Co- 16 Co- 17 Co- 19 Co- 20 Co- 21 Co- 21e Co- 25 Co- 26 Co- 27 Co- 28 Co- 29 Co- 30 Co- 32 Co- 33 Co- 37 Co- 42 Co- 43 Co- 44 Co- 45 Co- 47 Kg Genoqpos evaluados San Carlos Co- 1 Co- 2 Co- 4 Co- 6 Co- 8 Co- 11 Co- 12 Co- 13 Co- 14 Co- 15 Co- 16 Co- 17 Co- 19 Co- 20 Co- 21 Co- 25 Co- 26 Co- 27 Co- 28 Co- 29 Co- 30 Co- 31 Co- 32 Co- 33 Co- 37 Co- 42 Co- 44 Co- 45 Co- 48 Kg Genoqpos evaluados Jimenez Co- 1 Co- 8 Co- 11 Co- 13 Co- 14 Co- 15 Co- 16 Co- 17 Co- 19 Co- 20 Co- 21 Co- 21e Co- 25 Co- 26 Co- 27 Co- 28 Co- 29 Co- 30 Co- 31 Co- 32 Co- 33 Co- 34 Co- 37 Co- 42 Co- 44 Co- 45 Co- 48 Kg Genoqpos evaluados Turrubares Co- 1 Co- 2 Co- 3 Co- 6 Co- 7 Co- 8 Co- 11 Co- 12 Co- 14 Co- 15 Co- 16 Co- 17 Co- 19 Co- 20 Co- 21 Co- 21e Co- 25 Co- 26 Co- 27 Co- 28 Co- 29 Co- 30 Co- 32 Co- 33 Co- 37 Co- 42 Co- 43 Co- 44 Co- 45 Co- 47 Kg Genoqpos evaluados Bijagual

27 EEFBM Kg Co- 1 Co- 2 Co- 3 Co- 4 Co- 6 Co- 7 Co- 8 Co- 11 Co- 12 Co- 13 Co- 14 Co- 15 Co- 16 Co- 17 Co- 19 Co- 20 Co- 21 Co- 21e Co- 25 Co- 26 Co- 27 Co- 28 Co- 29 Co- 30 Co- 31 Co- 32 Co- 33 Co- 37 Co- 42 Co- 43 Co- 44 Co- 45 Co- 47 Co- 48 Genoqpos evaluados Planting of the selected varieties in farmers plots. Betwewn April and June 2014 the following plants were set. Lugar Agricultor Fecha de Genotipos siembra Cóbano Daniel Rodríguez Esquivel 07/06/2014 Co- 11, Co- 26,Co- 28, Co- 29, Co- 34, Co- 37, Co- 44, Co- 48 Cóbano María Fermina Cruz Sibaja 07/06/2014 Co- 11, Co- 26,Co- 28, Co- 29, Co- 34, Co- 37, Co- 44 Jiménez Juan Felix Contreras 24/06/2014 Co- 11, Co- 26, Co- 28, Co29, Co- 37, Co- 44 Jiménez Mario Villafuerte 23/06/2014 Co- 8, Co- 11, Co- 26,Co- 28, Co- 29, Co- 34, Co- 37, Co- 44 Jiménez Luis Hernández Jiménez 20/06/2014 Co- 11, Co- 26,Co- 28, Co- 29, Co- 34, Co- 37, Co- 44 Jiménez Yamileth Espinoza Vega 26/06/2014 Co- 11, Co- 26, Co- 28, Co29, Co- 37, Co- 44 Turrubares Douglas Rojas 05/04/2014 Co- 8, Co- 11, Co- 26,Co- 28, Co- 29, Co- 34, Co- 37, Co- 44 San Carlos Octavio Benavides Rojas 07/08/2014 Co- 8, Co- 11, Co- 26,Co- 28, Co- 29, Co- 34, Co- 37, Co- 44 San Carlos Dagoberto Arrieta Vega 15/06/2014 Co- 11, Co- 26,Co- 28, Co- 29, Co- 37, Co- 44 San Carlos Wilberth Benavides Araya 25/06/2014 San Carlos Carmelino Chichilla Elizondo 15/06/2014 Co- 4, Co- 8, Co- 11, Co- 26,Co- 28, Co- 29, Co- 34, Co- 37, Co- 44, Co- 48 San Carlos Carlos Oviedo Alfaro 15/06/2014 Co- 8, Co- 11, Co- 26 Co- 29, Co- 44 San Carlos Rogelio Solano Delgado 28/08/2014 Co- 8, Co- 11, Co- 26,Co- 28, Co- 29, Co- 34, Co- 37, Co- 44 Bijagual Gerardo Vega 30/05/2014 Co- 4, Co- 8, Co- 11, Co- 26,Co- 28, Co- 29, Co- 34, Co- 37, Co- 44, Bijagual Huber Agüero 30/05/2014 Co- 4, Co- 8, Co- 11, Co- 26,Co- 28, Co- 29, Co- 34, Co- 37, Co- 44, Co- 48 Bijagual Jose Salazar Pérez 14/06/2014 Co- 11, Co- 26,Co- 28, Co- 29, Co- 37, Co- 44, Co- 51 Bijagual Marcos Vindas 13/08/2014 Co- 8, Co- 11, Co- 26,Co- 28, Co- 29, Co- 37, Co- 44, Co

28 Selected varieties Costa Rican Code SPC Code Co 4 BL/SM 147 Co 8 BL/SM 158 Co 11 BL/SM 151 Co 26 BL/SM 46 Co 28 BL/SM 116 Co 29 BL/SM 128 Co 34 BL/HW 37 Co 37 BL/PNG 13 Co 44 CE/IND 10 Co 48 CE/IND 31 Co 51 CR white cocoyam 28

29 2.2. Nicaragua Dr Guillermo Reyes, University of Nicaragua Field propagation In April 2014, the plantation (23 genotypes) established in León (August 2013), devoted to field propagation of the varieties, was harvested. Due to the lack of funds, we decided to establish the field propagation plantation in León and Masaya, areas near to Universidad Nacional Agraria (UNA). One of the current field plantations, (Matagalpa) is located in favorable environmental conditions (high land, more moisture, and lower temperature) to produce more seed and gather farmers to demonstrate the features of the genotypes. The 17 th of June 2014, the plantation (41 genotypes) established in Masaya (2th of December 2013), were harvested. Both sites are located in the dry belt of the country. Besides of that, El Niño influence, reduced the possibilities to produce large amount of seed for farmer distribution. In the other field plantation, the water supply is guaranteed, even though, it is located in low land and relative high temperature. In 19 th of June 2014, the total number of genotypes (41) were established in Masaya, to multiply the genotypes. This plantation was harvested the 10 th of December Some genotypes consistently obtained the best growth in those dry and hot conditions. In the other field plantation, the water supply is guaranteed, even though, it is located in low land and relative high temperature. The 27 of January 2015, all genotypes were also established at the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA). The 15 th of February, the total 41 genotypes were established at the Agricultural Research Station belonging to Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua (other national university), in Matagalpa, central- north zone of the country. Distribution of varieties to farmers The distribution will be held in third quarter of 2015 Controlled hybridization Two month- old plants from 7 selected genotypes were treated with AG 3 in León and in Masaya. Flowers were induced (4-6 flowers per plant), but they did not produced pollen. High temperatures, the lowland ( m.a.s.l.) and the water scarcity may cause the response. Conduct controlled crosses Since pollen was not produced, crosses were not performed. Send leaf samples to France for DNA analysis We have not sent the samples because of the lack of funds. Virus detection identification We have not sent the samples because of the lack of funds. 29

30 2.3. Cuba Yadelys Figueroa Aguila, Sergio Rodríguez Morales, Marilis D. Milián Jiménez, Iban Arredondo Quevedo, Yuniel Rodríguez García, Ramón Arce Suárez. INIVIT, Apartado 6, Santo Domingo, Cuba. Introducción El INIVIT, en Municipio de Santo Domingo, provincia de Villa Clara, Cuba, uno de los principales objetivos es la conservación, evaluación, documentación y explotación de los recursos fitogenéticos, el mejoramiento y producción de semilla de alta calidad de las raíces, rizomas, tubérculos, plátanos, bananos, hortalizas y papaya, dentro de los que se encuentra la malanga, que es como se llama en Cuba a las especies de los géneros Xanthosoma y Colocasia. El Instituto de Investigaciones de Viandas Tropicales (INIVIT), cuenta con el Banco de Germoplasma del Malanga Colocasia más grandes de América Latina, donde se han desarrollado estudios morfoagronómico, que han permitido la caracterización y evaluación del germoplasma. El presente trabajo se diseñó con el objetivo de seleccionar y evaluar las accesiones de Malanga Colocasia de reciente introducción en Cuba. Materiales y Métodos La investigación se desarrolló en el INIVIT, en un suelo Pardo mullido carbonatado (Hernández y col., 1999). La siembra en campo se efectuó en febrero de 2014 a febrero de 2015, las atenciones culturales se realizaron acorde a las recomendaciones vigentes para el cultivo (MINAG, 2008) y se utilizó la metodología establecida para el manejo del germoplasma en condiciones de campo (Miliánet al., 2004). Se ubicaron en parcelas individuales, de 5 surco con 5 m de longitud, se utilizó como control el clon comercial INIVIT MC 2005 clon que ha tenido muy buena aceptación en nuestro el país y fue obtenido por el INIVIT. Para la caracterización se empleó la lista de descriptores según IPGRI (1999) y Miliánet al., (2008). El material vegetal con el cual se trabajó fueron introducidos y seleccionado a partir de su introducción por el proyecto Internacional proporcionado a través de EU- INEA AROIDS NETWORK, el proyecto introdujo en nuestro país 50 accesiones y de ellas seleccionamos un grupo de 18 que fueron los que mostraron una mejor respuesta a nuestras condiciones edafoclimáticas, siendo este su segundo año de evaluación, se relacionan a continuación: Resultados Obtenidos Palakala C3-12 Sapapalii Vaimuga Núutele 2 Fanautapu Samoa 13 C2- E11 Manu Lormak Alafua Asau Miyako C3-10 Boklua Tsuronoku Pauli Saleapaga Control ( INIVIT MC 2005 ) En la Fig.1 se aprecia el peso total de las accesiones comparados con el control y se muestra que 12 de ellas (68,42%) superan la media general (2,5 kg. planta - 1 ), Palakala, Vaimuga, Samoa 13, Lormak, Miyako, Tsuronoku, C3-12, Núutele 2, C2- E11, Alafua, C3-10, Pauli, dichas accesiones a pesar de ser 30

31 introducidas recientemente y estar en proceso de adaptación, por los resultados obtenidos en cuanto a cormos y cormelos, resultan muy interesantes y de importancia para los programa de mejoramiento. Peso total kg. planta Peso total Accesiones Figura 1. Peso total obtenido por accesión (incluye producción comercial y no comercial). El número de cormos comerciales es un carácter muy asociado al rendimiento, las accesiones evaluadas presentan una media de 4,5 cormos y 2,8 de cormelos. Este es un aspecto fundamental debido a los hábitos de consumo donde la mayor parte de las producciones se destina para el consumo y los cormelos como semilla para la plantación de nuevas áreas, dentro de las accesiones estudiadas ocho de ellas mostraron los mejores valores (Palakala, Vaimuga, C3-12, Núutele 2, Alafua, C3-10, Fanutapu, Saleapaga) (Fig.2). No. de cormos Comerciales Palakala Vaimuga Samoa 13 Lormak Miyako Tsuronoku C3-12 Núutele 2 C2- E11 Alafua C3-10 Pauli Sapapalii Fanautapu Manu Asau Boklua Saleapaga Control (I MC 2005) Accesiones # de cormos Comerciales Figura 2. Número de cormos comerciales y no comerciales por accesión. Se puede apreciar en la Fig. 3 que de las 18 accesiones evaluadas ocho de ellas mostraron rendimientos similares o superiores al control, con una media de 1,8 kg. planta - 1 para los cormos comerciales, (Palakala, Vaimuga, Lormak, C3-12, Núutele 2, Alafua, C3-10, Fanautapu), de ellas con la excepción de Fanautapu, las demás mostraron rendimientos totales por encima de la media (2,8 kg. planta - 1 ), lo cual los hace mucho más interesantes para los trabajos de fitomejoramiento. Con 31

32 respecto al peso de los cormos no comerciales solamente siete accesiones los producen con un peso inferior a los 150 g, (Samoa 13, Miyako, Tsuronoku, C3-12, Alafua, Pauli, Fanautapu). No. de cormos # de cormos Comerciales # de cormos No. Comerciales. Palakala Vaimuga Samoa 13 Lormak Miyako Tsuronoku C3-12 Núutele 2 C2- E11 Alafua C3-10 Pauli Sapapalii Fanautapu Manu Asau Boklua Saleapaga Control (I MC 2005) Accesiones Figura 3. Peso de los cormos comerciales y no comerciales por accesión El contenido de materia seca (Fig. 4) es superior en 12 accesiones de las estudiadas (C3-10, Asau, Lormak, Boklua, Vaimuga, Pauli, Sapapalii, Saleapaga, Alafua, Manu, C3-12, Fanautapu), las que superan al control con valores entre 30-44% en cormos y cormelos respectivamente y solo son inferiores seis de las evaluadas (C2- E11, Samoa 13, Tsuronoku, Palakala, Pauli, Núutele 2), estos resultados muestran que en una misma área se puede obtener un incremento en los rendimientos, dado por el alto contenido de materia seca presente en la accesiones que con los extendidos en nuestro país porque presentan porcentaje muy inferiores a los introducidos. Contenido de MS (%) C3-10 Asau Lormak Miyaco Boklua C2- E11 Samoa 13 Tsuronoku Palakala Vaimuga Pauli Sapapalii Saleapaga Alafua Núutele 2 Manu C3-12 Fanautapu Control (I- Accesiones MS (%) 3014 Cormos MS (%) 3014 Cormelos Figura 4. Contenido de materia seca (%) de las accesiones estudiadas. 32

33 Accesiones que emiten Inflorescencias Se puede observar que bajo nuestras condiciones climáticas solo sinco accesiones comenzaron a florecer naturalmente (Miyako, C2- E11, Pauli, Manu, Boklua) estas comienzan a florecer a partir de julio y puede durar hasta Noviembre.las demás accesiones que no están incluidas en esta selección también se están estudiando ya que pueden ser utilizadas como progenitor masculino o femenino en los programas de mejoramiento genético del cultivo en el país. En este cultivo también se puede inducir la floración en otros meses del año para lograr realizar hibridaciones, por es la principal fuente de variación en los programas de mejoramiento tradicional siendo en malanga Colocasia un factor limitante dado por la irregularidad de la floración y anomalías en las estructuras florales que se intensifican con la aplicación de hormonas que inducen la floración (Ivancic, 1995). La emisión de las inflorescencia es muy variable dependiendo de las condiciones climáticas de área en la que se encuentre el cultivo, no todas las accesiones preservadas en el germoplasma logran alcanzar la fase de floración, rasgo fundamental a tener en cuenta en los programas de hibridación, al permitir la incorporación de caracteres deseados que puedan dar respuesta a las demandas crecientes de productores y consumidores. Conclusiones 1. Existen 18 clones con potencial de uso en programas de mejoramiento. 2. Se determinó que 12 accesiones (69%) superan la media general (2,8 kg. planta - 1 ), además de mostrar valores similares o superiores al control. 3. Los mejores resultados en cuanto a la producción de cormos comerciales se reflejaron en ocho accesiones. 4. De las accesiones seleccionadas ocho de ellas mostraron rendimientos similares o superiores al control, con una media de 1,8 kg. planta - 1 para los cormos comerciales, con respecto al peso de los cormos no comerciales solamente siete accesiones los producen con un peso inferior a los 150 g. 5. El contenido de materia seca es superior 12 accesiones de las 18 seleccionadas y superan al control con valores de 30-44% en cormos y cormelos. 6. Bajo nuestras condiciones climáticas solo cinco accesiones comenzaron a florecer naturalmente. Bibliografía Hernández J., A.; Pérez, J. M.; Bosch, D.; Rivero, L.; Camacho, E. y J. Ruiz, (1999). Nueva versión de la clasificación genética de los suelos de Cuba. La Habana: AGRINFOR, p. 28 y 45. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI). Descriptores para el taró Colocasia esculenta Ivancic, A. Abnormal and unusual inflorescences of taro, Colocasia esculenta (Araceae). Australian Journal Botany, v. 43, p , Milián, M; Sánchez, I; Morales, A; Beovides, Y; Xiques, X; Román, María Isabel ; González, C; Rodríguez, S; Espinosa, E; Rodríguez, K; Molina, O; Cabrera, M y Guerra, D (2004). Tecnología para el manejo sostenible de los recursos fitogenéticos de especies de importancia económica en Cuba. Programa y resúmenes. XIV Congreso Científico. Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Agrícolas (INCA), Cuba. p Premio Ministerio de la Agricultura y Propuesta a Premio Nacional de la Academia de Ciencias de Cuba, año Milián, M La variabilidad del género Xanthosoma en Cuba. Tesis de doctorado en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de la Habana. 103 p. NC 642:2008 Malanga. Especificaciones. Oficina nacional de Normalización. Julio,

34 2.4. CARDI West Indies Dr Gregory Robin, CARDI, St Vincent, West Indies Over the past three years ( ), the following project activities took place: Introduced fifty genotypes from the Pacific Genotypes were micro- propagated in the Tissue Culture Laboratory Genotypes then underwent quarantine observation and morphological characterization by CARDI at the Ministry of Agriculture Research Station in Rivulet The Genotypes were further morphologically characterized at CARDI s Research Station in Rabacca The genotypes were then placed on one farmer s field and two MOA Stations in different agro- ecological zones. Data was collected on the following: Plant height, number of leaves, petiole length, number of suckers, corm weight, corm shape and flesh colour. Taste tests were also conducted to select corms by consumer preference. Selection of genotypes shown in the Table 1, were based on the following priority characteristics: Corm weight, Corm shape, Number of suckers, and Taste. Table 1 Genotypes selected for on farm participatory trials: Genotype St. Lucia St. Vincent 1 BL/SM/111 BL/SM/111 2 CE/ND/24-3 BL/SM/136-4 BL/SM/132 BL/SM/132 5 BL/SM/80 BL/SM/80 6 BL/SM/134 BL/SM/134 7 BL/HW/08 BL/HW/08 8 BL/HW/37-9 BL/HW/05-10 BL/SM/ BL/SM/ CE/IND/12-13 BL/PNG/13 BL/PNG/13 14 C3-12 C BL/SM/13 BL/SM/13 16 CE/MAL/12 CE/MAL/12 17 BL/SM/116 BL/SM/ BL/SM/ BL/SM/ BL/HW/26 21 BL/SM/ BL/SM/ BL/SM/ CE/IND/14 34

35 25 BL/SM/ BL/SM/ BL/SM/ CE/PHL/14 29 CE/IND/31 30 BL/PNG/11 31 BL/SM/ CE/IND/10 Farmers meetings Three farmer meetings were held with the Extension Division and Research and Development Units of the Ministry of Agriculture. These meetings familiarized the extension and farmers with the farmer participatory programme for evaluating the genotypes. Distribution of the genotypes commenced in February 2014 and plantings took place on twenty five farms. In St. Vincent genotypes were placed on the following locations (Fig. 1), which constituted different agro- ecological zones. Fig. 1. Map of St. Vincent, showing locations where participatory farm trials were conducted in 2014 The performances of the genotypes in the on- farm participatory trials is presented in Tables

36 Table 2 Genotype performance on the farm of Winston James in St. Vincent Genotype Corm weight (lb) Corm shape Corm flesh colour Number of suckers Plant height (cm) CM/MAL/ Dumb- bell Yellow BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White CE/IND/ Elongated Yellow BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White CE/IND/ Dumb- bell White BL/SM/ Dumb- bell Yellow BL/HW/ Dumb- bell Yellow BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White BL/PNG/ Dumb- bell Yellow BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White Table 3 Genotype performance on the farm of Lenford Sampson in St. Vincent Genotype Corm weight (lb) Corm shape Corm flesh colour Number of suckers Plant height (cm) CE/IND/ Elongated Yellow BL/HW/ Elongated Yellow BL/SM/ Elliptical White 2 96 BL/SM/ Elliptical White 1 69 CE/IND/ Elliptical Yellow 0 87 BL/PNG/ Elliptical Yellow 1 85 BL/SM/ Elliptical Yellow 4 62 CE/MAL/ Elliptical White 2 74 BL/SM/ Elliptical White 2 95 Table 4 Genotype performance on the farm of Arnold Mc Donald in St. Vincent Genotype Corm weight (lb) Corm shape Corm flesh colour Number of suckers Plant height (cm) CE/IND/24 2 Dumb- bell Pink BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White 2 83 BL/SM/151 1 Elliptical Yellow 6 85 CE/IND/ Elongated White 7 85 CE/MAL/ Elliptical Yellow 6 75 BL/SM/ Dumb- bell Pink 4 96 BL/HW/ Elliptical Yellow 3 83 BL/SM/ Elongated White BL/PNG/13 1 Dumb- bell White 4 83 BL/PNG/ Dumb- bell Yellow

37 Table 5 Genotype performance of the on the farm of Jennifer Francis in St. Vincent Genotype Corm weight (lb) Corm shape Corm flesh colour Number of suckers Plant height (cm) 1 Dumb- bell White 2 97 Bl/SM/80 2 Elliptical White BL/SM/132 1 Elliptical White CE/MAL/12 1 Elliptical White BL/SM/ Elliptical White CE/IND/ Elongated White BL/PNG/ Elliptical Yellow CE/PHL/14 1 Cylindrical White CE/IND/ Elliptical White BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White Table 6 Genotype performance on the farm of Delpesche in St. Vincent Genotype Corm weight (lb) Corm shape Corm flesh colour Number of suckers Plant height (cm) BL/SM/ Dumb- bell Yellow BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White BL/HW/ Elliptical Yellow CE/IND/ Dumb- bell White BL/SM/ Dumb- bell Yellow CE/IND/ Dumb- bell White BL/PNG/10 2 Elliptical White BL/SM/ Dumb- bell Yellow BL/SM/ Elliptical White BL/SM/ Elliptical White Table 7 Genotype performance on the farm of Lloyd Da Silva in St. Vincent Genotype Corm weight (lb) Corm shape Corm flesh colour Number of suckers Plant height (cm) BL/SM/ Cylindrical White 3 95 CE/IND/ Elliptical White 6 71 BL/PNG/10 1 Elliptical Yellow 5 92 BL/HW/ Elliptical Yellow CE/IND/ Dumb- bell White BL/SM/ Elliptical White BL/SM/ Dumb- bell Yellow 5 73 BL/SM/ Elliptical White 2 96 BL/SM/ Conical White 3 90 CE/MAL/ Round Yellow 3 73 BL/PNG/ Dumb- bell White

38 Table 8 Genotype performance on the farm of Robert Jacobs in St. Vincent Genotype Corm weight (lb) Corm shape Corm flesh colour Number of suckers Plant height (cm) BL/SM/ Elliptical white BL/SM/ Elliptical white CE/IND/24 1 Elliptical white BL/SM/13 1 Dumb- bell white BL/SM/ Elliptical white BL/HW/ Elongated white CE/IND/ CE/IND/ Elliptical white BL/SM/ Elliptical Pink Table 9 Genotype performances on the farm of Kendol Ballantye in St. Vincent Genotype Corm weight (lb) Corm shape Corm flesh colour Number of suckers Plant height (cm) BL/SM/ Elongated White BL/SM/ Elliptical White BL/SM/ Elongated Yellow Elliptical White BL/PNG/ Elliptical White CE/IND/ Elongated Yellow Elongated White BL/SM/ Elongated Yellow BL/HW/ Elliptical White CE/IND/ Elongated White Table 10 Genotype performances on the farm of Simmons in St. Vincent Genotype Corm weight (lb) Corm shape Corm flesh colour Number of suckers Plant height (cm) CE/IND/ Elongated White 6 72 BL/PNG/ Elongated Yellow 6 84 CE/PHL/ Elongated White 7 89 BL/SM/ Elliptical White 4 74 BL/SM/ Round Yellow 5 97 CE/IND/ Elliptical White 3 99 BL/HW/ Elongated White BL/SM/ Elliptical Yellow 2 95 BL/SM/ Elliptical White

39 Table 11 Genotype performance on the farm of Conroy Bristol in St. Vincent Genotype Corm weight (lb) Corm shape Corm flesh colour Number of suckers Plant height (cm) CE/IND/ Elliptical White 5 69 BL/SM/ Elliptical Yellow BL/SM/ Elliptical White 4 63 CE/IND/ Dumb- bell White 6 67 BL/PNG/ Elliptical Yellow BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White 7 64 BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White 6 68 BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White 7 76 BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White 6 70 Table 12 Genotype performance at the Ministry of Agriculture Dumbarton Agricultural Station in St. Vincent Genotype Corm weight (lb) Corm shape Corm flesh colour Number of suckers Plant height (cm) BL/SM/120 1 Dumb- bell Yellow 9 98 BL/SM/ Dumb- bell Pink CE/IND/ Dumb- bell White BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White BL/SM/13 2 Dumb- bell Yellow BL/PNG/ Dumb- bell Yellow BL/HW/ Elliptical White BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White 2 92 BL/HW/ Dumb- bell Pink 6 72 BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White 0 62 BL/PNG/ Elliptical Yellow BL/SM/114 1 Dumb- bell White BL/SM/ Elliptical White CE/PHL/ Dumb- bell White BL/PNG/ Dumb- bell White 7 71 BL/SM/ Elliptical White 5 56 BL/SM/ Elliptical White CE/IND/ Dumb- bell White BL/SM/152 1 Elliptical White 7 89 BL/PNG/ Elliptical Yellow BL/PNG/ Elliptical White CE/IND/ Elongated Yellow BL/SM/ Elliptical White

40 Table 13 Genotype performance at the Ministry of Agriculture Newgrounds Station in St. Vincent Genotype Corm weight (lb) Corm shape Corm flesh colour Number of suckers Plant height (cm) BL/SM Round White BL/PNG/ Elliptical Pink BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White 9 79 BL/SM/ Elliptical White 7 85 BL/PNG/ Elliptical Yellow 5 90 BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White 7 86 BL/PNG/ Dumb- bell White BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White BL/PNG/ Elliptical White 6 96 BL/SM/ Dumb- bell Pink 6 89 BL/HW/ Elliptical Yellow BL/SM/ Elliptical Yellow BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White 7 99 BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White 6 87 BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White 7 92 BL/HW/26 1 Elliptical Pink CE/PHL/14 1 Elliptical White CE/IND/ Elongated Yellow BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White 1 86 CE/IND/ Dumb- bell White 4 93 BL/SM/ Dumb- bell White 1 93 BL/SM/ Dumb- bell Yellow CE/MAL/ Elliptical White CE/THA/ Dumb- bell White 4 63 BL/SM/ Elliptical Pink 1 90 Table 14 Genotype performance on the farm of Maxcintha Mckie in St. Vincent Genotype Corm weight (lb) Corm shape Corm flesh colour Number of suckers Plant height (cm) BL/PNG/ Elliptical Yellow BL/HW/ Elliptical Yellow CE/IND/ Elliptical White BL/SM/ Elliptical Yellow 4 75 BL/SM/ Elliptical White BL/SM/ Cylindrical White CE/IND/ Elongated Yellow BL/SM/ Conical Yellow BL/SM/ Elliptical Yellow

41 A review of the genotypes across farms and zones Tables (2-14), showed that the CE/IND/24 (IND 512); BL/SM/80 (Alafua) and the BL/SM/83 (Samoana) gave the highest yields. Comparison of the three genotypes across farms / ago- ecological zones (Tables 15 17), showed plantings in the higher rainfall zones gave the higher yields. Table 15 Genotype BL/SM/83 yield and corm characteristics compared across farms / agro- ecological zones Genotype Farmer Location Corm weight (lb) BL/SM/83 Corm shape Corm flesh colour Number of suckers Plant height (cm) New Grounds New Grounds 1.6 Dumb- bell White 7 99 Lloyd Da Silva Farm 1.7 Cylindrical White 3 95 Winston James Malatto Valley 3.6 Dumb- bell White Jacqueline Simmons Rabacca 1.2 Elliptical White Table 16 Genotype BL/SM/80 yield and corm characteristics compared across farms / ago- ecological zones Genotype Farmer Location Corm weight (lb) BL/SM/80 Corm shape Corm flesh colour Number of suckers Plant height (cm) New Grounds New Grounds 1.1 Dumb- bell White 7 92 Dumbarton Dumbarton 1.2 Dumb- bell Pink Delpleche Evesham 3.9 Dumb- bell White Lloyd Da Silva Farm 1.4 Elliptical White 2 96 Maxcintha Mc Kie Mt Pleasant 1.1 Elliptical White Kendol Ballantyne Magum 1.5 Elliptical White Winston James Malatto Valley 3.3 Dumb- bell White Jacqueline Simmons Rabacca 0.9 Elliptical White 4 74 Lenford Sampson Rabacca 1.3 Elliptical White 2 95 Arnold Mc Donald Richland Park 2.1 Dumb- bell Pink 4 96 Conroy Bristol Richland Park 2.1 Dumb- bell White 6 68 Jennifer Richland Park 2 Elliptical White

42 Table 17 Genotype CE/IND/24 yield and corm characteristics compared across farms / ago- ecological zones Genotype Farmer Location Corm weight (lb) CE/IND/24 Robert Corm shape Corm flesh colour Number of suckers Plant height (cm) Jacobs Douglas Mt 1 Elliptical white New Grounds New Grounds 1.4 Dumb- bell White 4 93 Dumbarton Dumbarton 1.4 Dumb- bell White Delpleche Evesham 4.3 Dumb- bell White Lloyd Da Silva Farm 2.8 Dumb- bell White Maxcintha Mc Kie Mt Pleasant 1.5 Elliptical White Kendol Ballantyne Magum 0.5 Elongated White Winston James Malatto Valley 2.1 Dumb- bell White Jacqueline Simmons Rabacca 1.3 Elliptical White 3 99 Lenford Sampson Rabacca 0.6 Elliptical Yellow 0 87 Arnold Mc Richland Donald Park 2 Dumb- bell Pink Conroy Bristol Richland Park 1.8 Elliptical White 5 69 Jennifer Richland Park 2.1 Elliptical White Four of the farms, though well managed; data was not collected from these farms due to the mixing of the genotypes. Data was also not collected from five other farms that were poorly managed and overgrown with weeds. The farmer who was part of the initial observation / validation trials and having had full involvement in the initial taste testing sessions, established semi- commercial plots of the two selected genotypes (CE/IND/24 and BL/SM/83). CE/IND/24 (IND 512) has few suckers, thus scaring of the corm is reduced at harvest. Corm is white fleshed which is also a market preference. Oval shape corm suitable for the export market 42

43 Status of Taro Project in St. Lucia In St. Lucia, farmer participatory trials were conducted in the following locations (Table 18). Table 18 List of participating farmers in St. Lucia s on- farm participatory trials No. Name Location Extension Region 1 Philip Joseph Roseau 7 2 Benedict Justin Belair 7 3 Marcellous Hamilton Richfond 7 4 Bernard Mathurin Bara 3 5 Francis Joseph Bara 3 6 Aloysius James Theobald 3 7 Eustace Avril Compa 3 8 Ira Ange Bosquet D or 3 9 Luicus Lionel Theobald 3 10 Boniface James Basil 3 11 Florentius Edward Glavier 3 12 Cornilius Lynch La Ressource 3 13 Giles Gustave Mardi Gras 3 14 Cantius Mathurin Compa 3 15 Jessy Saddoo Moro, Micoud 4 16 Diana Louis Latille 4 17 Matilda Tobiere Descartiere 4 18 Windy Mangal Piton 4 19 Reginal Charlemagne Calypso 4 20 Vaughn James Upper Ti Richer 4 In October 2013, different taro genotypes were planted on three separate farms for observation. Two plots were located in the Roseau Valley - agro- ecological zone 6 and one plot in Baboneau - agro- ecological zone 2) with each plot containing of 5 plants of three different varieties. In the Roseau valley (zone 6) the plots contained the taro genotypes BL/SM/111, BL/SM/136, BL/SM/116, BL/SM/148 and BL/HW/05 and in Baboneau (zone 2) the plot contained genotypes BL/SM/80, BL/SM/132 and BL/PNG/13. During the first seven months of this year 2014, extreme drought conditions decimated the taro Germplasm plots at the CARDI Field Station and also genotypes established on farmers plots. With the onset of the rains during the months of August 2014, there was regrowth (survival) of 24 genotypes out of a total of 36 that were initially established at the CARDI Field Station. These have been salvaged for replanting and will be used to continue the project in the coming month ahead. 43

44 2.5. Burkina Faso :+P12+)34T+1,+U[c3&9)+-&4U%2a2+N&31=1-,[>21.1%,2.,2 /1 IC:(C:'+'M)'L/:':;(:<)((C:P;+Q:/'+(R&G`1)0)<&10&1l);1)/R2$ (C O"4$5#IC:(+(K:&G(C:(C:'+' @+01/:$UIC:b1/R&G(C:(C:'+'L/:':;(:<)((C:P;+Q:/'+(R&G`1)0)<&10&1 IC: '(1<R &G K&,)K?;&MK:<0: );< (C: :V(:;( &G ()/& G)/T+;0 +; M)' <&;: (C/&10C) '1/Q:R [,&KK:,(+&; );< :(C;&3&();+,)K '(1<R &; (C: )KK ;)(+&;)K (://+(&/RO M+(C (C: '1LL&/( &G <:,:;(/)K+Z:<':/Q+,:'&G(C:H+;+'(/R&G)0/+,1K(1/:# I)/&,1K(+Q)(+&;+'L/),(+,:<+;$-L/&Q+;,:'O+;)/:)';&/(CF1<);:':);<F&1(CF1<);:':,K+T)(: 44

45 The two main cropping systems - irrigated and rainfed taro are described. Four varieties are recognized by farmers according to the color of the stem and the morphological characteristics of corms and cormels: pelga or Raogo, yalma, miougou or gnanga and sabblega. Twenty- one selected agromorphological characters (11 qualitative and quantitative 10) from the list of IPGRI descriptors were used to characterize 99 farmer s accessions of taro from 13 provinces of Burkina Faso. The descriptive and multiple correspondence analyses allowed the description of four local varieties corresponding to three morphotypes according to petiole colour. The study of genetic diversity concerned 379 accessions from five continents represented by 19 countries, including Burkina Faso, with 11 microsatellite markers selected from 64 markers tested at CIRAD. Table 1: Genetic diversity parameters of studied taro accessions Groupes génétiques N P(0.95) A Rs Ho He F IS F ST 0.18* Groupe 1 (BF) Groupe 2 (GH) Groupe 3 (IN) Groupe 4 (ID) Groupe 5 (MA) Groupe 6 (PH) Groupe 7 (PNG) Groupe 8 (VU) A study of the ploidy level was conducted from the profile of the alleles of 354 individuals, and confirmed by the results of previous studies on 40 samples and the method of flow cytometry on 10 accessions of Burkina Faso at CIRAD. The study shows that the supposed diploids accessions of Burkina Faso are genetically very close to those of Ghana (genetic differentiation F ST = ) and relatively close to those of Indonesia and Vanuatu (FST = 0.24) than other countries studied. The genetic basis of taro could be extended in areas of low diversity as Burkina Faso, Ghana and Martinique through the introduction of new varieties from Asia and Oceania Accessions received were characterized at agro morphological level and at molecular level with RAPD markers. Out of 50 accessions received from SPC, 20 accessions were selected according yield; the number of suckers, the number of stolons, flowering and taste. The selected accessions with several suckers have sometimes flowers.the characteristics of the selected accessions are in Table 2. Table 2: Characteristics of INEA taro accessions selected in Burkina Faso Vatieties Origin Code SPC COW Taste Taste NUS NSU PCO SCO FLO FCO (Kg) BF SPC Khamin Thailand CE/THA/ Purple Green Absent White Good Good Klonglan Thailand CE/THA/ Purple Purple Uncommon White Good Acceptable Boklua Thailand CE/THA/ Yellow Yellow Absent White Good Good Srisamrong Thailand CE/THA/ Yellow Yellow Absent Yellow Good Good Maleala Samoa BL/SM/ Yellow Yellow Absent White Good Very good Apia Samoa BL/SM/ Green Purple Absent White Good Very good Alafua Samoa BL/SM/ Red Red Absent Purple Good Very good Matautu Samoa BL/SM/ Green Purple Absent Pink Good Very good Fanuatapu Samoa BL/SM/ Purple Purple Absent White Good Very good 45

46 Asau Samoa BL/SM/ Green light Green light Prevalent White Acceptable Very good Manono Samoa BL/SM/12O Purple Purple Uncommon White Not edible Very good C3-12 PNG BL/PNG/ Green light Green light Uncommon Yellow Acceptable Very good C3-22 PNG BL/PNG/ Green Green Absent Yellow Good Acceptable C2- E3 PNG BL/PNG/ Yellow Yellow Absent Purple Good Good IND218 Indonesia CE/IND/ Green light Green light Absent White Good Good IND 231 Indonesia CE/IND/ Vert- sombre Vert- sombre Uncommon White Acceptable No information Hawai BL/HW/ Green light Green light Absent White Good Not edible PExPH15-6 Hawai BL/HW/ Green Purple Prevalent White Acceptable Not edible Pa'akala Hawai BL/HW/ Green Green Absent White Good No information BC99-11 Hawai BL/HW/ Green Green Absent White Good Very good FCO SCO PCO NSU NUS COW FLO Flesh color Sheath color Petiole color Number of suckers Number of stolons Corm weight Flowering 2. Sending of samples for the physico- chemical characterization, drought tolerance studies The samples are being prepared to be sent for physico- chemical characterization and drought tolerance studies. 3. Difficulties and problems encountered We had some financial difficulties: Generally we receive the funds after the implementation of activities. This year, late transfer of funds did not allow to have enough time to prepare this workshop, especially at the administrative level. We had not been able to respect our activities program. In 2014, we have not been able to receive Prof. Anton Ivancic for the hybridizations because we were not ready. But in 2015, we will prepare ourselves for to receive him 46

47 2.6. Ghana Dr Lawrence Misa Aboagye, Ghana Introduction: The report highlights progress made in the activities undertaken in the Taro project in Ghana under participatory rural appraisal, germplasm multiplication, raising, distribution to farmers and the establishment of breeding plots. A. Participatory Rural Appraisal Training and conduct Participatory Rural Appraisal A one- day training was conducted for Agriculture Extension Agents (AEAs), to undertake baseline studies in the two selected districts. Participants were trained to gather information on general cultivation practices, diversity of taro in the communities, preferences, uses, diseases, pests, challenges and needs. In all 28 AEAs were trained and 240 respondents participated. Results Table 1: Farmers constraints Constraints Ejisu- Juaben (22) Atiwa (21) Diseases Planting materials Scarcity of Land Pests attack Pilfering Table 1 shows the constraints enumerated by the correspondents in the two districts. In all 22 constraints were identified by the respondents in the Ejisu- Juaben Municipality and 21 in the Atiwa district. Five constraints constituting 59.7% were observed in the Ejisu- Juaben District and that of Atiwa had 52%. Disease was the most cited constraint in the Ejisu- Juaben district and that of Atiwa was scarcity of land. Table 2: Future needs Item Ejisu- Juaben (23) Atiwa (16) Good planting material Disease resistance Financial assistance High yielding Education 7.7 (46.0) 4.0 (49.2) Table 2 shows the needs identified by the respondents in the two districts. Twenty- three needs were listed in the Ejisu- Juaben district and sixteen by the respondents in the Atiwa district. The five topmost needs constitute 46% in Ejisu- Juaben and that of Atiwa was 49.2% with good planting materials being the highest in the Ejisu- Juaben District and financial assistance in the Atiwa district. B. Germplasm Multiplication and Distribution i. Germplasm multiplication 47

48 Fig. 5 shows the material being multiplied using rapid multiplication under laboratory conditions. In all the thirty accessions were multiplied in- vitro. Fig 6 shows the planting materials being raised in a screen house. The materials were transplanted into poly bags filled with top soil and raised under screen house conditions up to 4-5 leaf stage, for distribution to farmers. ii. Germplasm distribution to farmers Packaging: Each farmer was given five accessions of 25 plants each and packaged in a box. The five varieties consist of one local and 4 exotic. Field establishment: With the assistance of the AEA s of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), the fields were lined and pegged at 1m by 1m and the materials were transplanted labeled and handed over to the farmer who will be under the supervision of the AEAs for the management and data collection on the materials. Table 3 Locality, farmers involved and varieties distributed Town Total number of farmers Gender of Beneficiaries Number of Varieties Total number of suckers distributed Men Wom en Local Exotic Total 48

49 Anyinam Akim Akropong Tumfa Abomosu Abokoase Tafo Abrakasu Bipoa 10 (60*) 5 (41) 5 (19) (1585) *: Figures in brackets are the total for the column Table 3 shows the localities, farmers involved and the materials distributed. The distribution covered 8 towns, involving 60 farmers, made- up of 41 men and 19 women. The number of farmers per town ranged from 4 at Tafo to 9 at Anyinam, depending on the size of the community and the importance of taro in the community. The number of the local varieties ranged from one in Abrakasu and Bipoa to six varieties in Anyinam and Abomosu. The number of exotic varieties per community ranged from 5 Abrakasu and Bipoa to 13 in Anyinam. In all 6 different varieties are being evaluated on farm at Abrakasu and Bipoa and 19 varieties at Anyinam. To date a total of 1585 suckers had been distributed since September, The number ranged from 100 at Tafo to 300 each at Abrakasu and Bipoa. 300 No. of accssions Accessions distributed Fig. 7 shows the accessions distributed. Among the local accessions, The topmost accessions distributed were KA/019 (10); SAO/12 (10); KA/35 (30) and SAO/006(45). Among the exotic accessions, accession BLSM/151 was the most distributed (225) and the least was BLSM/80 (15.) 49

50 No. of farmers KA014 KA 012 KA 019 KA 022 KA 031 KA 35 KA 040 ELO 002 ELO 005 SAO 006 SAO 12 SAO 020 SAO 034 KA 042 KA/008 ELO/018 KA/039 KA 004 CE/IND 12 BL/SM 10 BLSM 80 BLSM 115 BL/SM 132 BL/SM 151 BL/SM 158 CE/IND 16 CE/MAL 32 BL/SM 16 CE/ Mal 14 BLSM 116 No label BLSM 134 Local 7 20 Accessions Number of farmers receiving a parkcular accession Fig. 8 shows the number of farmers receiving a particular accessions. Among the locals twenty farmers propagated local accessions at Bipoa and Abrakasu. This was followed by nine farmers supplied with SAO/006 and six farmers receiving accession KA/035 Among the exotic accessions, a total of 45 farmers received accession BL/SM 151, the highest and only three farmers received accession BLSM/80, the least. C. Establishment of Breeding Plots at Nobewam and Anwomaso Figures 9 and 10 shows fields established for hybridization of the Taro germplasm. In all 24 accessions have been established at Nobewam and 30 accessions at Anwomaso. The Nobewam field was submerged due to excessive rainfall resulting in the slow growth of the materials and rendering most of the accessions weak. Some accessions have recovered and only one accession has flowered. Fig. 9 Accessions for hybridization at Nobewam (Ejisu- Juaben). The way forward: Crosses will be made and the F 1 nursed, distributed and evaluated on- farm 50

51 2.7. Nigeria Joseph Onyeka, Linda Ezeji, Benjamin Okoye and Charles Amadi Introduction: Following the previous success in execution of the INEA project in Nigeria as presented in the 2013 annual report, the following were identified as the priority focus NRCRI INEA project for the year Multi- locational evaluation of identified sources of TLB resistance from SPC introduced genotypes to evaluate stability of TLB resistance across locations. Systematic distribution of promising genotypes to farmers for further evaluation and selection. Generation of seedlings from the true seeds derived from diverse crosses in the preceding year and seedling evaluation on- station. Continued hybridization using appropriate parents to meet breeding objectives of developing high yielding, TLB resistant varieties with good culinary qualities. Multi- locational evaluation promising genotype for TLB resistance: A total of six introduced genotypes and two local taro varieties (CE/IND/12, BL/PNG/03, CE/THA/05, BL/SM/152, BL/SM/158, CA/JP/01, Nce011, and Nce003) were established for evaluation under natural field conditions in four different locations across south east of Nigeria. Planting was conducted between second week of May and last week June depending on the raining pattern in Isiukwuato, Umudike, Nsukka and Igbariam. Evaluation of the taro leaf blight commenced two months after planting and continued at bi- weekly interval until the plants were four months old. TLB symptoms were observed only at two (Umudike and Nsukka) locations throughout the duration of the evaluation. The performances of the various genotypes were relatively consistent across these two locations. BL/SM/152 showed the highest resistance to TLB with less than 10% plant area infected in both locations. Also, genotype CE/IND/12 showed significant resistance across the two locations (Fig 1) Umudike Nsukka Fig 1: Response of selected genotypes to TLB in 2 locations across Nigeria Farmers participatory evaluation and selection: NRCRI NEA project conducted farmers participatory evaluation in two locations representing two states of Nigeria in the year In each location, the project worked with a farmers cooperative society whereby the farmers prepared a corporately owned land for planting of the introduced taro accessions. Planting was established by researchers together with the farmers. All the post planting management operation were carried out by the farmers as a group. At harvest, the farmers were allowed to evaluate the genotypes and do selection of their most preferred accession (Fig 2). 51

52 At Isiukwuato, the results evaluation showed that the farmers preferred accessions that produce cormels over accessions that produce only corm. This is understandably so because Nigerian local taro accessions are the cormel producing types. Consequently accession CE/IND/12 was preferred by the farmers over BL/SM/152 which they would have preferred because of its resistance to TLB. The farmers participatory evaluation of the SPC taro accessions at Isiukwuato was supported with empowerment training aimed at equipping the farmers with value addition technology on the utilization of taro. In all over 150 farmers were trained on different value addition in Isiukwuato village. Fig 2: Farmers evaluating the introduced accessions in the field Breeding and hybridization: The germination of seed from 2013 crosses was highly variable depending on the particular crosses with percent germination ranging from 0% 50% (Table 1). Our effort to improve flowering by application of gibberellic acid was successful and over 7000 seeds were generated from successful crosses 2014 (Table 2). Table 1: Germination of 2013 derived seeds Male Parent Female parent Number of seeds % germination BL/SM/136 BL/SM/ CE/THA/08 BL/SM/ NCE 011 BL/SM/ NCE 006 BL/SM/ BL/SM/152 CE/IND/ NCE 006 BL/SM/ NCE 011 BL/SM/ NCE 006 BL/SM/ BL/SM/152 CE/IND/ Table 2: Successful crosses and true taro seeds generated in 2014 Female Male Number of Seed BL/PNG/13 BL/SM/ BL/SM/152 BL/PNG/13 52 BL/PNG/13 NCE BL/SM/152 NCE BL/SM/152 BL/SM/ BL/SM/152 CE/THA/ BL/SM/152 NCE

53 BL/SM/152 CE/IND/ BL/SM/152 CA/JP/01 83 CE/IND/10 NCE CE/IND/12 BL/SM/ CE/IND/19 BL/SM/ CE/THA/19 CA/JP/ TOTAL 7316 Looking Forward: Expanding the involvement of farmers to meet the project objective two additional community Ensure that we raise seedlings successfully from the true seeds derived from 2014 crosses and carry out seedling evaluation. 53

54 2.8. South Africa Willem Jansen Van Rensburg, ARC- Roodeplaat, Agricultural Research Council, Pretoria, South Africa 1. Introduction: Colocasia esculenta (Taro) is known as amadumbi or madumbi in South Africa. It is a minor crop mostly grown by subsistence farmers and marketed informally. Amadumbi is mostly grown on the east coast and sub- tropical regions of South Africa. Amadumbi can only be grown in relative frost free areas in South Africa and only in our summer months (September to April). In many other areas it is grown as an ornamental. 2. Germplasm acquisitions: ARC has received 50 lines from CePaCT. All in vitro lines were contaminated after a severe mite infestation during renovations on the building. All foreign and local germplasm are maintained in the field and in a gashouse. 3. Characterization All foreign and local germplasm has been characterized with microsatellite markers. Very low genetic diversity was observed for the local germplasm during previous Morphological characterization of foreign material status a challenge as some of the material did not grow very well. Plant remain small and grow very slow. This might be due to lower humidity. BL/SM/80 (Alafua) grows well and show no of the leaf spot symptoms observed by the other partners (Figure 1). 4. Germplasm Distribution 4.1 Plants available for distribution There is enough material of 50 varieties (local en foreign) to be distributed on request 4.2 Number of farmers contacted Ten gardens groups were involved in the beginning of the project and there was about 70 members in these groups but not all members were actively involved in growing amadumbe. There were also serious problems with commitment from some of the groups. Some groups did not tend to the trials and the one yield evaluation trial was harvested before any data can be taken. Two areas were identified where the farmers groups showed commitment and these were chosen to continue the project with. Six farmers were chosen from Umbumbulu (Figure 2) and four from Richmond (Figure 3) for planting demonstration trials. The demonstrations are next to the home steads where they are better maintained. All ten farmers are women and also produce amadumbe for the informal market. The six women from Umbumbulu are also part of a bigger group that produces organic amadumbe for Woolworths (an upmarket supermarket chain in South Africa). However, they are facing challenges with the organic certification and were not able to supply to Woolworths in the 2012/13 and 2013/14 season. Umbumbulu farmers: Name ID number Ms. Ngafungi Nene Ms. Zandile Mbili Ms. Fikelephi Msomi Ms. Lungeleni Mkhize Ms. Doris Mkhize Ms. Lindiwe Mkhize

55 Figure 2: Three of the six Umbumbulu farmers with Ms Lindiwe Zulu (ARC technician) Richmond farmers: Name ID number Ms. Thandiwe Ndlovo Ms. Zumekile Dlamini Ms. Mangqafava Shezi Ms. Landeni Pungula The 10 farmers at both localities are committed and are keen to continue with the project. 5. Participatory Evaluation: The work was done initially collaboration with a rural development NGO LIMA Rural Development that was promoting indigenous and traditional vegetables in the area. However, the funding that LIMA received from the KwaZulu Natal department of agriculture was terminated and they had to stop all activities. As mentioned previously ten farmers were selected to plant demonstration trails with in two areas (figure 1). These were six farmers in Umbumbulu and four in Richmond. These farmers were supplied with ten plants of 20 varieties that is a mixture of foreign and local material. Three evaluation trials were also planted with funding of the South African Department of Agriculture, Floristries and Fisheries (DAFF). One evaluation trial was planted with the Umbumbulu farmers. These trials contain mostly local, but also foreign material. Location of the yield trials was chosen to reflect the different growing areas of amadumbe in South Africa. Owen Sithole College of Agriculture (2 in figure 4), Umbumbulu (3 in figure 4) and (the Lowveld College of Agriculture (4 in figure 4) is within the traditional production areas. Roodeplaat (1 in figure 4) was chosen to see how amadumbe is adapted to the harsher conditions and shorter seasons. Supplemental funding for these trials will be obtained from the National Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries from 2014 onwards. 55

56 Evaluation trials O Umbumbulu O Richmond M7H$+(0DW&,)(+&;&G(C:<:T&;'(/)(+&;(/+)K'<1/+;0(C:$$h$");<$"h$2':)'&;' K:G();<<1/+;0(C:"4$2h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jK);0^%\hH6Wh$"_+;`F%6#IC:T:);;1T3:/&G,&/T:K'C)/Q:'(:<L:/ LK);(<+GG:/'+0;+G+,);(KR3:(M::;(C:K&,)K+(+:'#IC:C+0C:'(T:);;1T3:/&G,&/T'L:/LK);(M:/: C)/Q:'(:<)(*&&<:LK))();<K&M:'()(PT31T31K1#F+0;+G+,);(+;(:/),(+&;M:/:&3':/Q:<3:(M::; T:);;1T3:/&G,&/T:K');<K&,)K+(R^I)3K:");<2_# E%N&(/D6;&Q));)KR'+'G&/;1T3:/&G,&/T:K'G/&T(C/::&G(C:G&1/:Q)K1)(+&;LK&(' 2*$+6( SM E4)(<22 G(%#2h$%+( W&, " 2$44$#E== $==44#-"D 225#D" Ä#444$ *:L^W&,_ A EE5#=== $5D#5"= 2#$E 4#44== W+;: "E $=2=5#"=A =5E#2AA $$#E5 Ä#444$ W&,W+;: =A $4552#"5E $EA#5EA 5#42 Ä#444$ W&,VW+; 4 4#444 # # # E%N&(-U(C:([0/&1L+;0G&/T:);;1T3:/&G,&/T:K'C)/Q:'(:<L:/LK);(+;(C:<+GG:/:;(K&,)K+(+:'# H:);'M+(C(C:')T:K:((:/M:/:;&('+0;+G+,);(KR<+GG:/:;(#%/+(+,)KQ)K1:&G(~$#-D5$-);<WF7~ "#42D# P*6 G(%# 2,:S(8 =,]+*$)7#H *&&<:LK))( 25#A-D $A#2-2 ED 6 `F%6 "2#A-$ $$#42- ED > PT31T31K1 E#$2$ 2#$E$= ED % 56

57 Weight of cormels : The overall mean weight of all the cormels harvested from one plant was 0.654kg. The mean weight of cormels harvest per plant vary from 1.44kg for Ngubane in OSCA to 0.09g for Klang (CE/MAL/12) in OSCA. The mean weight of cormels harvested per plant was significantly lower in Umbumbulu than in Roodeplaat and OSCA. There was no significant difference between Roodeplaat and OSCA. (Table 5). The mean weight of cormels also differ significantly between lines. The highest mean weight was for Thandizwe43 (0.90kg) and the lowest was Klang (0.3589) Table 6). Table 3: The t- grouping for mean number of cormels for the different lines. Line Mean Std Dev N t Grouping Dlomodlomo A DlomoDlomo A Amzam A B Nkangala A B C Amzam A B C D DlomoDlomo A B C D E Thandizwe A B C D E Ocha B C D E Nkangala B C D E Nkangala C D E Modi C D E DlomoDlomo D E F Dlomodlomo D E F G Maphumulo E F G H Mabhida F G H I Nxele G H I Vilieria H I J Gumede I J K Mhlongo I J K BongiweMkhize I J K Bhengu I J K BusisiweMkhize I J K Ngubane I J K L Warwick I J K L LungelephiMkhize I J K L Msomi J K L M Mbili K L M Maphumulo L M Klang M Critical Value of t = and LSD = Means with the same letter were not significantly different. Table 4: Anova analysis for corm weight harvested from a single from three of the four evaluation plots Source DF Type I SS Mean Square F Pr > F Value Loc <.0001 Rep(Loc) Line Loc*Line <.0001 LocxLin

58 Table 5: the t- grouping for mean weight of cormels harvested per plant in the different localities. Means with the same letter were not significantly different. Critical Value of t = and LSD = Loc Mean Std Dev N t Grouping Roodeplaat A OSCA A Umbumbulu B Table 6: the t- grouping for mean weight of cormels harvested per plant for the different lines. Critical Value of t = and LSD = Means with the same letter were not significantly different. Line Mean Std Dev N t Grouping Thandizwe A Mabhida A B Amzam A B C Ngubane A B C Gumede A B C D BusisiweMkhize A B C D E Mhlongo A B C D E Bhengu A B C D E Dlomodlomo A B C D E Modi B C D E LungelephiMkhize B C D E Ocha B C D E DlomoDlomo B C D E Nkangala C D E BongiweMkhize C D E Amzam C D E Nkangala C D E DlomoDlomo C D E Nxele C D E Vilieria C D E Mbili C D E F Warwick C D E F DlomoDlomo C D E F Nkangala C D E F Maphumulo C D E F Msomi D E F Dlomodlomo E F G Maphumulo F G Klang G AMMI1 models: Number of Cormels harvested from a single plant According to the AMMI (Figure 5), the four first lines at Roodeplaat were DlomoDlomo171, Dlomodlomo19, Nkangala16 and Amzam182. The first four lines at OSCA were Dlomodlomo19, Amzam174, DlomoDlomo171 and Nkangala16 and the first four lines at Umbumbulu were Amzam174, Dlomodlomo19, Thandizwe43 and Modi2. Dlomodlomo19 were under the top four lines at all three localities while Amzam174 and Nkangala16 were under the top four lines in two of the three localities. Overall Dlomodlomo19, DlomoDlomo171, Amzam174 and Nkangala16 were the first four lines for number of cormels harvested from a single plant. However, all four these lines show low stability. Modi2, Thandizwe43, Nkangala15, Ocha and Nkangala44 showed a high degree of 58

59 '()3+K+(R);<)3&Q:)Q:/)0:;1T3:/&G,&/T:K'C)/Q:'(:<G/&T&;:LK);(#>&;0+M:H?C+Z:O.V:K: );<HCK&;0&)K'&'C&M:<)C+0C<:0/::&G'()3+K+(RO31(3:K&M)Q:/)0:;1T3:/&G,&/T:K'C)/Q:'(:< G/&T ) '+;0K: LK);(# 7K&T&7K&T&$D$ );< 6TZ)T$E" 'C&M:< C+0C <:0/:: &G +;'()3+K+(R 31( )3&Q: )Q:/)0: ;1T3:/ &G,&/T:K' C)/Q:'(:< G/&T &;: LK);(O MC+K: H3+K+ );< jk);0 )K'& 'C&M:< ) C+0C <:0/::&G+;'()3+K+(R31(K&M:/(C);)Q:/)0:;1T3:/&G,&/T:K'C)/Q:'(:<G/&T)'+;0K:LK);(# = H:);O""#$D Å%\WW*6.B\Ç 2 $ J%$ [$ Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç Å%\WW*6.B\Ç [2 Å%\WW*6.B\Ç [= 4 = $4 $=.1T3:/&G%&/T:K' "4 "= 24 2= 54 M7H$+(OD6HH8$T&<:KG&/(C:;1T3:/&G,&/T:K'C)/Q:'(:<G&/"-()/&K+;:'&Q:/(C/:: :;Q+/&;T:;(' (C: 6HH8$ T&<:K );)KR'+' ^G+01/: A_ (C: G&1/ (&L K+;:' )( *&&<:LK))( M:/: 6TZ)T$D5O HCK&;0&O H)LC1T1K&5 );< IC);<+ZM:52# IC: G&1/ (&L K+;:' )( PT31T31K1 M:/: IC);<+ZM:52O H)3C+<)O 6TZ)T$D5 );< B1T:<:# IC: G&1/ (&L K+;:' )( `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jK);0ON+K+:/+)5D);<H3+K+M:/:(C:K:)'('()3K:K+;:'# 6KK(C:':K+;:'O:V,:L(.013);:O'C&M:<3:K&M)Q:/)0:M:+0C(G&/,&/T:K'C)/Q:'(:<G/&T)'+;0K: LK);(#.013);:'C&M:<(C:C+0C:'(<:0/::&G+;'()3+K+(R31(M)'/);?:<&Q:/)KKG&1/(CG&/M:+0C(G&/,&/T:K'C)/Q:'(:<G/&T)'+;0K:LK);(# 59

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61 2.9. Madagascar Arsène Rakotondravao and Voanghy Andrianavalona, FOFIFA, Toamasina, Madagascar A- Germplasm distribution After receiving 50 taro accessions from SPC, in vitro multiplication was done by FIFAMANOR and 37 survival introductions were multiplied in field at Ilaka Est in the East coast of Madagascar. 23 to 27 accessions were distributed to the farmers and each farmer received 5 to 10 plants due to insufficient material (low multiplication). Table 1. Number of farmers in 4 agroecological zones 2013/ /2015 Distribution November 2013 September 2014 Agroecological zones Farmers Villages Farmers Villages North East South East South highland Middle West Total In 2013/14, the distribution was done in November 2013 in 4 agroecological zones. It was done in collaboration with BIMTT network (NGO) introduced accessions were distributed to 69 farmers in 19 villages. In south east and North east agroecological zones only 1 and 9 farmers received respectively the taro accessions. After the first distribution we have continued the field multiplication of all survived accessions at Ilaka station. In 2014/15, in September 2014, 74 farmers in 16 villages received the introductions. We increased the number of farmers in North and South East agroecological zones compared to the previous year in order to have more information. 61

62 ^K [#5%+3)%+,767)%,*+4(8%&$%,7*#.&()KKG)/T:/')/:L/&),(+Q:#71:(&(C:K),?&GG1;<'O<)()C)/Q:'(+;'&T:'+(:'M)';&(/:,&/<:<# E%N&(-1F1TT)/R&G)KK/:'1K('&G&;G)/TL)/(+,+L)(&/R:Q)K1)(+&; R*+3mR*+ 3(&j)&%#, R*+3j)&%#, =N6*+3(& "66(997*#D YHZ YHZ j)&%#, 2,*&*#9 R*+3h$%&7,4 R*+3(& j)&%#, YHZ R*+35&(9F R*&*$+ %\h8.7h4d 2"O" 2"O" 4O4 o:' W&M),/+<+(R R:KK&MK+0C( >WhFHh$$A -2O4 ADO4 "AO4 $OA o:' B&&< R:KK&M %\h8.7h$5 $=AO4 $"$O2 2-O" $OD.& W&M),/+<+(R o:kk&mj+;? %\hh6wh4" $-"OA $4EO= E5O" 2O$ o:' 6,,:L()3K: J1/LK: %\h8.7h2$ $-5O5 $5=O- 5-O5 "OD o:' Q:/R0&&< L+;? >WhFHh$5- $-AO4 $DDO4 $-O4 $O4 o:' B&&< R:KK&MK+0C( %\hia6h4d "42OA $24O5 D2O" 2OA.& 0&&< R:KK&M %\hia6h"5 "$5O$ $ADO5 5AOE $OD.& B&&< J+;?K+0C( %\hia6h42 "$EOA $A"O5 =AO" "O5.& Q:/R0&&< J1/LK: >Wha9h4E "5$OA $25OE $4-O2 2O-.& a+0c),/+<+(r o:kk&mk+0c( >WhFHh$=E "52O- $EDO5 =AOA $OE.& 0&&< L+;? %\hia6h4= "5EO$ "4AO4 5"O4 "O-.& Q:/R0&&< L1/LK: %\h8.7h4a "5-O5 -EO2 $=$O4 $"O- o:' a+0c),/+<+(r o:kk&m *)T);<)<R Q);0)T:;) "=-O2 $2$OE $"DO= 2O-.& N:/R0&&< L1/LK: F)&;b&0)'R "E$O" $5$O= $2-OE 2O-.& Q:/R0&&< 9C+(: %\hh6wh4a "EEO2 $=AO$ $2"O$ 2OE o:' B&&< J+;? %\h8.7h2" "-4OA A=O4 ""=OA =OA.& 0&&< R:KK&MK+0C( %6hlJh4$ 2"DO2 $2AO2 "45OA AOA.& B&&< o:kk&m >WhFHh$52 25DO4 "DAOD DAO" "O4.& Q:/R0&&< J+;?hR:KK&M >WhJ.Bh$$ 2A"O2 "25OE $"DO= 2O".& W&M),/+<+(R R:KK&M >WhFHh$"4 2DEOA "4=O" $D2O5 5OA.& W&M),/+<+(R o:kk&mhl+;? >WhFHh$"E 54EO2 "D=OE $2"O= 2OA o:' Q:/R0&&< o:kk&mhl+;? >WhFHh$=D 55"O$ "-$O- $=DOA 2O$.& W&M),/+<+(R o:kk&mhl+;? >WhFHh$=" =42O5 22EO4 $A=O5 2O2.& Q:/R0&&< R:KK&MK+0C( >WhFHh$=$ =$DOA "-DOA ""4O4 =OE.& W&M),/+<+(R J+;?K+0C( >WhFHh52 =24OA 5$EOA $$"O4 "OA o:' Q:/R0&&< L+;? F&)TL&('R A44O4 "E-O" 2$4OE EO5.& B&&< 9C+(: >WhFHhE4 A=AO" 5$-O5 "2AOE 2O5.& Q:/R0&&< J+;? >WhFHh$$= AA5OA 2=4OE 2$2OE $AO= o:' Q:/R0&&< o:kk&mk+0c( >WhFHh$2" E4"O2 225OE 5ADO= DO$.& Q:/R0&&< o:kk&mhj+;? *)T);<)<RT)Q& E55O= 5$"O= 52"O4 $4O4.& B&&< o:kk&m F&)0;)/) $$$DO" 2EDOE D"-O5 $2OA.& 0&&< MC+(: J/:G://:<),,:''+&;'M+(C,&/T);<,&/T:K'M:+0C(p"440 <*00,+%&3.4,46)100)--&,3-9-R&)(% 62

63 Yield of introduced taro accessions and local varieties According to the yield (corm+cormels) g/plant, two local varieties presented higher compared to the introduced accessions. Most of Samoa accessions are the most productive compared to those from other countries. - According to the origin vs yield : Origin Corm+Cormel /plant (g) Corm/plant (g) Cormel /plant (g) Indonesia 203,03 113,57 91,53 Thailand 221,31 166,92 54,39 Hawaii 241,57 134,82 109,29 Malaysia 245,35 134,74 110,61 Japan 327,28 136,33 204,59 Papua New Guinea 362,31 234,84 127,47 Local varieties 470,20 209,40 260,81 Samoa 479,25 299,16 181,97 63

64 =44#44 5=4#44 544#44 2=4#44 244#44 "=4#44 "44#44 $=4#44 $44#44 =4#44 [ %&/TÉ%&/T:KhLK);(^0_ %&/ThLK);(^0_ %&/T:KhLK);(^0_ 6,,:''+&;' G/&T F)T&) );< K&,)K Q)/+:(+:' L/&<1,:< C+0C R+:K< G&KK&M:< 3R (C&': G/&T J.B );< l)l);#w&mr+:k<+;0),,:''+&;'m:/:/:,&/<:<g/&th)k)r'+)oa)m)++oic)+k);<);<8;<&;:'+) <*00,+%&3.4,46)O,3)-1.+,)0,(,.&01(O,3)-9-R&)(% "H+*K(6*&*H76%&c*#(9 E*,%&9j)&%#,YHZ R*+3j)&%#,YHZ R*+3(&j)&%#,YHZ F&1(Ca+0CK);< $-5O4$ $52O45 =2O$D 9:'(H+<<K: "$4OE- $A5O$" 5AOEA F&1(C\)'( 5A-O4A "A5OE" "45O"5.&/(C\)'( ED2O"A 5"EO4" 55=O"5-44#44 E44#44 D44#44 A44#44 =44#44 544#44 244#44 "44#44 $44#44 [ F&1(C a+0ck);< 9:'(H+<<K: F&1(C\)'(.&/(C\)'( %&/TÉ%&/T:KhLK);(^0_ %&/ThLK);(^0_ %&/T:KhLK);(^0_ F+(:'K&,)(:<+;K&MK);<^F&1(C\)'();<.&/(C\)'(_C)<C+0C:/L/&<1,(+&;(C);(C&':+;C+0CK);< ^F&1(CC+0CK);<);<H+<<K:9:'(_# 64

65 On farm evaluation in Madagascar 65

66 Corm quality evaluation : Accessions Nb of accessions distributed Wt of (Corm +Cormel) g/plant Wt of corm g/plant Wt of cormel g/plant Corm quality Hawaii High acridity Indonesia Out of 5 accessions, 2 are good, 2 low acridity and 1 high acridity Japan good Malaysia Out of 2 accessions, one is good and other is acceptable PNG low acridity Samoa Out of 13 accessions 7 are very good, 3 are good and 3 present low acridity Thailand Out of 4 accessions, 2 are very good and 2 are good Local varieties Out of 5 accessions, 3 good and 2 are very good - Out of 27 accessions: 9 very good, 9 good, 1 acceptable, 6 low acridity and 2 high acridity and most of Samoa taro accessions have high corm quality. => 66% of accessions evaluated on farm trials were classified as very good and good and 33% of the accessions were acrid. C- Sample for analyses - 21 leaves sample for genetic studies and 21 corm samples for physico- chemical characterization were respectively sent to CIRAD Montpellier and to Slovenia. - The sending of samples for drought tolerance and virus diversity studies are planned for this year (2015). D- Breeding The objective is to produce progenies through targeted crosses between selected local varieties and introduced varieties. Concerning the flowering, local varieties did not naturally flower but 2 wild local varieties did flower. Because of the unavailability of GA3, we could not treat the best local varieties during this period of flowering. Most of introduced accessions from Samoa, Papua New Guinea and Malaysia did naturally flower but most of accessions from Thailand and Japan never flower. The period of flowering started from February to May at Ilaka station but it was very important in February to March. So we carried out crosses between introduced and introduced varieties and introduced varieties and wild local varieties. Over 60 crosses were done and 37 of them came to maturity. The attack of fruit peduncle by Giant African Snail was noted. The maturity of the seeds after crossing varies between 30 days to 60 days depending on the parents. From 37 successful crosses, seeds were extracted and germinated at the bed water. From 5000 F1 plantlets potted, 2400 vigorous plants of them were planted in field and under observation. 66

67 2.10. India Dr. J. Sreekumar, A. Mukherjee, Unnikrishnan Mullath, CTCRI, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India Harvesting of Taro was done on the month of April which included 35 INEA lines & 4 local varieties. The following lines showed higher yield potential. They were selected for direct utilisation by subjecting to on farm trials with farmer's participation. They were also selected for including in the hybridization programme of WP 3, INEA (Table 1). Table 1. Lines which showed higher yield potential (April 2014, harvest) Sl Accession Yield (t/ha) No 1 CE/IND/ CE/THA/ CE/THA/ BL/SM/ BL/SM/ BL/SM/ CA/JP/ A total 48 INEA lines were planted for further multiplication. A pollination plot of 23 INEA lines (Table 3) intermingled with promising lines (Table 2) was planted for carrying out the pollination programme according to WP3 for the year Table 2. Promising flowering lines being used in the WP 3 programme of INEA for genetic improvement SL no Type of petiole Accession Pollen Type of tuber Edible Yield fertility (%) 1 Purple petiole BL/HW/08 90% Tall Dasheen All parts High 2 BL/IND/14 18% Tall Dasheen All parts High 3 BL/SM/80 80% Tall Dasheen All parts High 4 Dark/Light green BL/SM/116 82% Tall Dasheen Tuber High petiole with purple sheath 5 Dark/Light green BL/IND/32 90% Medium Non Low 6 petiole with purple tip Tolerant to TLB CE/IND/06 80% intermediate Medium edible All parts Medium intermediate 7 CE/IND/07 80% Tall intermediate leaf Low 8 CE/IND/12 80% Tall intermediate Non Medium Tolerant to TLB edible 9 BL/PNG/11 100% Tall Dasheen All parts Medium Resistant to TLB 10 BL/SM/111 90% Tall Dasheen Tuber Medium 11 BL/SM/151 90% Tall Dasheen Tuber High Stoloniferous 12 BL/SM/152 80% Tall Dasheen All parts High 13 BL/SM/120 88% Medium Dasheen All parts High 14 Dark/Light Purplish green petiole CE/MAL/06 98% Medium intermediate All parts Medium 67

68 15 CE/IND/10 100% Tall Dasheen All parts Low 16 BL/PNG/12 100% Tall Dasheen All parts High 17 BL/SM/158 88% Tall Dasheen All parts High 18 BL/SM/143 80% Tall Dasheen Tuber Medium 19 Cream colour CE/MAL/12 80% Tall Dasheen All parts High petiole 20 Dark/ light green CE/MAL/14 90% Tall Dasheen All parts High 21 petiole BL/PNG/10 100% Tall Dasheen Non High Tolerant to TLB edible 22 BL/SM/134 80% Tall Dasheen All parts High These are the lines that showed tolerance / resistance to TLB with different grades of yield & culinary quality. They are being used as parent lines for crossing with the local flowering lines. Table 3: Pollination block contain the following lines Sl Accession No 1 CE/IND/10 2 CE/IND/12 3 BL/SM/151 4 BL/SM/80 5 BL/SM/111 6 BL/SM/116 7 BL/SM/120 8 BL/SM/132 9 BL/SM/ BL/SM/ BL/SM/ BL/PNG/13 13 BL/HW/08 14 BL/HW/26 15 CA/JP/02 16 CA/JP/06 17 CE/THA/03 18 CE/THA/05 19 CE/THA/10 20 BL/IND/07 21 BL/IND/06 22 CE/MAL/06 23 CE/MAL/14 24 Muktakesi 25 Jangidi 26 Sonajulie 27 Purple For the purpose of breeding and on- farm participatory selection in WP 3, the harvested tubers were sent to CTCRI Regional Station, Bhubaneswar (Table 4). The list of send INEA lines are given below Table 4: List of lines sent to CTCRI Regional Centre, Bhubaneswar for on- farm trial Sl No Accession 1 CE/IND/06 2 CE/IND/10 68

69 3 CE/IND/12 4 CE/IND/24 5 CE/IND/31 6 CE/IND/32 7 BL/SM/80 8 BL/SM/116 9 BL/SM/ BL/SM/ BL/SM/ BL/SM/ BL/SM/ BL/PNG/12 15 BL/PNG/13 16 CE/THA/07 17 CE/THA/10 18 BL/HW/08 19 BL/HW/26 20 BL/HW/37 21 CA/JP/02 22 CA/JP/04 WP- 3: Pollination and Hybridization programme Flowering was observed in five local lines and 15 INEA accessions (Table 5). Flowering of different lines started in July - August and continued up to December - January. Stray plants are producing spadices in January also, under Trivandrum climatic conditions ( C and 11h, 30m- 12h, 30m day length). Pollination was carried out between the local lines and the exotic INEA accessions as well as between the INEA lines. The pollinated flowers were wrapped with parafilm. The ripened mature fruits were harvested. Ripening of fruits was indicated by the change of fruit bunch colour from greenish to yellow/orange and drooping of petiole. Out of the 5 local lines (Jangidi, IC (purple coloured), Pallavi, local 1 and local 2), only local 2 produced seeds. The crosses between the INEA lines were successful. Both open pollinated and cross pollinated seeds were collected. The seeds were washed, air dried and stored in tight capped bottles. The list of crosses and seeds collected are provided below (Table 6). 63 crosses were made which included 2 with local lines. Seeds were collected from 38 cross pollinated spadices, 13 open pollinated ones. 12 crosses did not produce any seeds. In other words, 38 full- sib seed families and 25 half- sib seed families (Table 7) were generated from the breeding programe. Table 5. Lines which flowered in the pollination block Sl no Local lines INEA Accessions 1 Jangidi CE/IND/10 2 Pallavi BL/IND/32 3 IC (purple colored) BL/HW/08 4 Local 1 BL/PNG/09 5 Local 2 BL/SM/111 6 BL/SM/116 7 BL/SM/120 8 BL/SM135 9 BL/SM/ BL/SM/ CA/JP/02 69

70 12 CE/THA/03 13 CE/THA/05 14 CE/THA/10 15 CE/MAL/06 Table 6: List of Hybridization/crosses made and fruit set observed. Sl no Female parent Male parent No of spadices pollinated Infrutescences collected Percentage of fruit set 1. CE/IND/10 THA/03 9 5* 56% 2. SM/ SM/ * 100% 4. SM/ * 50% 5. Local BL/IND/32 SM/ * 50% 7. SM/ * 100% 8. Local BL/HW/08 SM/ SM/ THA/ BL/PNG/09 IND/ JP/ SM/ * 50% 15. BL/SM/111 SM/ * 33% 16. SM/ * 100% 17. SM/ * 50% 18. HW/O THA/03 2 2* 100% 20. THA/10 3 1* 33% 21. Local BL/SM/116 SM/ * 50% 23. SM/ * 60% 24. SM/ * 100% 25. SM/ * 71% 26. BL/SM/120 SM/ * 50% 27. SM/ * 50% 28. SM/ * 50% 29. HW/08 1 1* 100% 30. THA/03 2 1* 50% 31. Local 2 1 1* 100% 32. BL/SM135 SM/ SM/ * 50% 34. SM/ THA/ IND/ BL/SM/151 SM/ * 100% 38. SM/ * 100% 39. SM/ * 67% 40. PNG/09 4 2* 50% 41. JP/02 4 3* 75% 42. THA/03 5 5* 100% 43. Local 2 1 1* 100% 44. BL/SM/158 SM/ * 40% 45. SM/ * 33% 70

71 46. HW/08 2 1* 50% 47. THA/03 2 1* 50% 48. Local CA/JP/02 SM/ PNG/ CE/THA/03 SM/ * 40% 52. SM/ SM/ CE/THA/05 SM/ * 50% 55. CE/THA/10 SM/ SM/ SM/ * 33% 58. CE/MAL/06 SM/ * 62% 59. IND/32 2 1* 50% 60. Local JANGIDI SM/ IC (purple) SM/ SM/ * indicates the number of successful crosses(full- sib progenies) collected, some fruits are yet to be collected, as they are yet to be ripened. Table 7: List of open pollinated (half sib progenies) fruits collected. Sl no No of fruits collected 1. CE/IND/ BL/IND/ BL/SM/ BL/SM/ BL/SM/ BL/SM/ BL/SM/ BL/SM/ CA/JP/O CE/THA/ CE/THA/ CE/THA/ CE/MAL/06 2 It was interesting to note that the local lines like Jangidi started flowering early in the season, while the exotic INEA lines started flowering after middle of the season and continued to flower late in the season as well. By that time the local lines had wilted and senesced at crop maturity. Flowering synchrony between the exotic lines and indigenous lines was found to be very low. Similarly, cross compatibility between exotics and indigenous lines was also found to be very low. Maximum number of fruit set was obtained in crosses with BL/SM/151, BL/SM/120, BL/SM/111, BL/SM/116 and BL/SM/158 as female parents (refer table). The pollen fertility was found to be between 80-90% in all these accessions. The incidence of TLB was high between July to September. As the lines BL/HW/08 and CA/JP/02 started flowering earlier in the season, it affected the fruit set, which caused the decaying of fruits. The two successful cross obtained with local line (local 2) was with BL/SM/120 and BL/SM/151 as the female parents. 71

72 72

73 International networking for sharing biodiversity of Taro, among resource poor farmers of Asia, Oceania, Africa and South America Unnikrishnan M 1, Archana Mukherjee 1, Sreekumar J 1, Binu Hariprakash 1 and Vincent Lebot 2 1 Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, India 2 CIRAD, PO Box 946, Port Villa, Vanuatu. Introduction: Taro (Colocasia esculenta) is considered to have originated in south- east Asia (Indo- Burmese region) and the Pacific. Some anthropologists believe that Colocasia might have been the first irrigated crop and that the ancient rice terraces of Asia were originally constructed for Colocasia (Plucknett, 1976). The domestication of the crop is supposed to have occurred about years ago. Taro, then spread to other regions, about 2500 years ago to China and Egypt and slightly later to west Africa (where it is known as Cocoyam). Much more recently it spread from there to Caribbeans, as food on slave ships. It is now also grown as commercial crop in countries such as Australia and New Zealand. Taro is one of the most important crops in the pacific island countries, where it plays an important role both as a starchy staple and leafy vegetable. Worldwide, it is the 5 th most consumed root crops (FAOSTAT, 2000) with over 25% produced in Oceania and south east Asia. Taro is one of the oldest crop of this region, probably reaching the Polynesian islands 2000 years ago. There is now evidence to suggest that most cultivars found throughout the Pacific were not brought by the first settlers from Indo- Malayan region but may have been domesticated from the wild sources in Melanesia (Lebot, 1992). The most important centres of Taro diversity in the Pacific are found on the larger islands such as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea (PNG). Continuous selection by farmers over the long history of the crop has resulted in very interesting variation in landraces, but apart from the cultivated genotypes, the area is also home to relatives of taro such as Colocasia esculenta 'aquatilis' and feral populations. Disaster struck in 1993, when Taro Leaf Blight (TLB), caused by Phytophthora colocasiea started to spread and cause great damage in Samoa. An export industry worth US $7-10 million at the time was destroyed, including the livelihood of many smallholders on the island. The disaster that occurred in Samoa was one of the main factors that led to the establishment of TaroGen project in In 2003, after only 5 years, TaroGen and its partners have been able to collect, document and safeguard 2418 accessions. While the participating Pacific Island Countries (PIC) all endeavour to establish effective field collections of their own materials, it has been recognized that it will be very difficult to maintain all genotypes in an effective way and on a long term basis, with the limited resources likely to be available for this work after the project ends on Therefore, a core collection has been identified of about of 164 genotypes (Mace et al., 2004), and it is envisaged that together the PIC's will undertake the support of long term conservation of this long term collection available for wider use through virus cleaning and good documentation. One approach that is likely to benefit diversity and sustainable taro cultivation in the Pacific is promoting the active conservation of taro diversity through participatory plant breeding, diversity fairs, community biodiversity registers and seed banks which have been found to be very effective for taro conservation and cultivation as in Nepal and Vietnam (Sthapit et al., 2003). Genetic diversity is also relevant for the quality of the final product on the market. The development of new food and industrial products from taro is receiving more attention. It will be important to investigate how genetic variation can contribute to quality products with a higher market value. Also, there seems to be opportunities for taro in mixed cropping systems involving coconut. TaroGen has collected an excellent core collection along principles that should be of interest to other taro field collections and potentially to other vegetatively propagated crops. However, a core collection should not be static, but should be updated regularly to make sure that it continues to represent the most relevant genetic variation for its users. Methods for updating core collections 73

74 which involves replacement, addition and deletion, need to be developed. Methodology for in vitro propagation of taro is well developed, though cryopreservation protocols need to be improved significantly. For the safe movement of the germplasm, efficient disease cleaning methods for plant materials and robust test methodologies for pest and disease need to be available. While all these factors are essential for the efficient storage and dissemination, it is similarly important to have excellent characterization and utilization data available on the materials in the collections to enhance use in farmers field and breeding programme. Taro could almost be seen to symbolize sustainable development. It is typical of the Pacific region, and has the clear potential to contribute to sustainable development socially, economically and environmentally. Because the crop has spread around the world and has been adopted by many traditional and modern agricultural production systems, the significance of its development into a modern sustainable source of food and income will not be restricted to the region, but will be of benefit on a much larger scale. Taro, Colocasia esculenta, in India: Importance of its biodiversity for global application: In India, Colocasia is widely distributed from the foothills of Himalayas to the southern tip of the peninsula and from Maharashtra to the hilly regions of the North- Eastern, like Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Arunachal, Tripura and Mizoram. It is grown in the Deccan plateau and the Gangetic plains. It is a versatile crop, like rice, that is grown in puddle paddies, under inundated conditions, in uplands as rain- fed or irrigated crop in this country. It is grown as a sole crop or intercrop with other horticultural crops like banana or as a relay crop as done in wheat fields in Bihar. In North India, we have Arvi and Bunda types of Colocasia. Arvi is the one with small or medium sized side tubers and a mother tuber. Only the side tubers (cormels) are edible here. Bunda has a big mother tuber (corm) only, which forms the edible part. In southern parts of the country mostly, it is Arvi with cormels (small or medium size) and corms (big or medium size). Varieties with edible corms and cormels or with only edible cormels are popular. The Arvi types are commonly known as eddoes and the Bunda types are dasheens. Besides the tubers, there are varieties with edible stolons also popular in India. In Colocasia, there are varieties with edible leaves as well. Leaves are very good source of vitamins, protein and minerals. IT forms an important component in the food basket of tribal and resource people in India. Colocasia is known as 'Chembu' in Malayalam, 'Chepankizhangu' in Tamil, 'Chyamalu' in Telugu, 'Shama gadde' in Kannada, 'Saru' in Oriya and 'Kachu' in Assamese and Bengali languages. Studies on genetic variability present in the indigenous germplasm of Taro, conducted at Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, (ICAR), Trivandrum have shown that there are triploid (2n- 42) and diploid (2n- 28) lines existing (Jos et al., 1986). Evaluation conducted on their edibility qualities have shown that there are accessions with all parts (corm, cormels, leaves) edible, only corm and cormels edible, only cormels edible and cormels and leaves edible as well. Lines with non- edible parts also existed in the collections (Unnikrishnan et al., 1987, 1988). Studies on biodiversity of taro and its utilization in improving taro cultivation in India is in progress right from the beginning of the inception of CTCRI in 1963 and at the state Agri. Universities, through the networking of All India Co- ordinated Research Programme (AICRP). This has resulted in the identification of several novel lines with potential for yield and quality, as well as resistance to Taro Leaf Blight (TLB), the most dreaded disease of Taro. A total of 18 varieties have been released at all India level for popular cultivation. The list includes eddoes (15), dasheens (2) and one swamp Taro. As the name suggests, this variety grows in swampy conditions especially in West Bengal and Assam and produce edible, non- irritant stolons, a vegetable popular in these states (James George et al., 2012). The varieties Muktakeshi, Jangdi, Panisaru 1, Panisaru 2 are resistant or field tolerant to TLB. Other indigenous accessions resistant to TLB were reported from India as way back in 1960 (Thankappan M, 1985). Sree Rashmi and Sree Pallavi are two eddoe selections from indigenous germplasm released from CTCRI. Sree Rashmi possess edible corm, cormels and leaves with tuber yield of 18t/ha (Unnikrishnan et al., 1987). 74

75 It is evident that out of the different Taro cultivating areas in the world namely, Asia, Africa, the Pacific islands and South America, India possess rich genetic diversity of the crop. It is highly appreciated to share this genetic variability among all the countries in the world for betterment of the crop and the population who uses it as a staple or subsidiary food. With this view, the International Network for Edible Aroids (INEA) was started as a global consortium of scientists and growers to facilitate work on a project entitled: "Adapting clonally propagated crops to climatic and commercial change". The aim of this 5 year project, part funded by the European Union with the grant of Euro 3 million is to use edible aroids as a model to improve clonally propagated crops of the tropics, which are difficult to adapt to new circumstances as they flower and set seeds rarely. This also will help low taro diversity regions to supplement and enrich their crop germplasm that can withstand the effects of climate and commercial change. Use of modern biotechnology and development of network for exchanging of germplasm, information and crop improvement involving the farmers is also envisaged in the project. The countries involved in the network project are Burkina Faso, Coasta Rica, Cuba, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Nicaragua, Nigeria, The Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, South Africa, Vanuatu, Trinidad and Tobago. Institute and Laboratories in France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Slovenia are providing technical support. The International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, Nigeria is an associate to the network. INEA is led by the Secretariat of Pacific community (SPC), Fiji and the CIRAD, France and Vanuatu. Materials and methods: The project aims are 1. To facilitate access to crop gene pool to the partners 2. To establish worldwide collaboration 3. To make use of modern biotechnologies Work plan: 1. Establishment of International Network 2. Distribution of genetic diversity: supply of clones in the form of live tissue cultures 3. Exchange of true Taro seeds 4. Genetic diversity studies using molecular markers 5. Drought resistance evaluation 6. Understand relationship between physico- chemical characteristics of corms- cormels, quality and taste 7. Optimum virus indexing procedures 8. To secure the long term access to Taro diversity and corm quality to resource poor farmers Work Programme: v WP- 1 Project Co- ordination (SPC, Fiji) 1. Development of website and platform to support INEA 2 Fulfillment of financial, administration and Co- ordination obligations 3. Production and circulation of annual reports 4. Monitoring of project activities v WP- 2: In vitro distribution and propagation 5. Distribution of selected phenotypes as in vitro cultures 6. Receipt of culture and field multiplication, their evaluation and comparison with local lines 7. Distribution of 30 selected genotypes to 10 village communities per country (5 farmers per village) v WP- 3: Breeding and onfarm participatory selections 8. Controlled crosses involving local lines and exotic lines conducted and seeds collected 9. Crosses between exotic lines conducted and seeds collected. 10. Open pollinated seeds of exotic lines also collected 75

76 v WP- 4: Genetic studies- DNA (SSR and SNP) fingerprinting 11. DNA fingerprints of selected local germplasm accessions carried out at CIRAD,France. v WP- 5: Drought resistance studies 12. Studies conducted on morpho- agronomic traits associated with drought tolerance, identified and evaluated at University of Madeira, Portugal v WP- 6: Physico- chemical characterization of corms conducted at University of Maribor, Slovenia v WP- 7: Virus indexing and safe movement of germplasm conducted at Virus department, DSMZ, Germany v WP- 8: Distribution of allelic diversity 13. Introduced elite genotypes distributed to farmers and propagated in their plots 14. Genotypes harvested and assessed by the farmers 15. First clonal seedling generation propagated and distributed to farmers 16. Onfarm trials harvested and participatory evaluation of C1 conducted Results: As a participating country, India is involved in WP2, WP 3, WP 4, WP 5, WP 6, WP7 and WP8. WP- 2: In vitro distribution and propagation (SPC and partner countries - includes India) Fifty accessions of exotic Colocasia esculenta lines were received from SPS, Fiji in 2 shipments of 25 numbers each. These in vitro cultures, which were supplied in plastic culture bottles and sterile bags were directed for hardening as well as micro propagation depending on the condition received. From the first set of 25 cultures, 1 each was taken for subculture while the rest was hardened. The in vitro cultures received were immediately sub cultured. The contaminated cultures were treated with mercuric chloride (0.1% w/v), washed and cultured in MS basal medium (Murashige and Skoog, 1962) containing sucrose (3%) and activated charcoal (0.1%). For multiplication via multiple shoot induction, MS medium fortified with TDZ (2mg/l), sucrose (3%) and agar (8%) was used. This medium was found suitable enough to induce multiple shoot as well as roots. Mature in vitro plantlets (8-12 cm) long were subjected to hardening. For hardening the plantlets were washed in sterile distilled water to remove traces of agar. These were then planted in small ice cream cups filled with sterile vermiculite. The cups were then covered with polythene bags and distilled water was sprayed periodically. The plants that arrived in sterile bags were well rooted. These plants were directly subjected for hardening. The decayed roots and leaves were trimmed and the plantlets were incubated in culture tubes with sterile distilled water for a period of five days. By this time, new roots were seen emerging from the base of the shoots. They were also transferred to plastic cups and covered with polythene covers as mentioned earlier. These bags were removed after a week and plants were allowed to grow for a month. They were then transferred to plastic pots containing vermiculite. Organic manure was applied after one week of transplantation to the pots and fertilizer application was carried out at weekly intervals. After 2 months, these plants were transplanted to the field. Pits were prepared by adding farmyard manure in a clear shade free area. The hardened plants were kept deep in the soil, leaving space for watering. The plants were labeled with tags and fertilizer application was done 2 weeks after planting in pits. Watering was done regularly in the morning and weeding at weekly intervals. WP- 3: Breeding and onfarm participatory selections Characterization of the 50 INEA lines were carried out for different morphological characters, disease incidence of Taro Leaf Blight (TLB) and edibility (Table 1) based on IPGRI descriptors for Taro (IPGRI, 1999). Based on the petiole colour, the 50 INEA accessions were divided into 6 major groups - Purple petiole, Dark/Light green petiole with purple sheath, Dark/Light green petiole with purple tip, Dark/Light Purplish green petiole, Cream colour petiole and Dark/ light green petiole. During the monsoon period, observations were recorded for disease incidence of Taro Leaf Blight (TLB) and categorized as immune, tolerant, resistant and susceptible. Of the 50 lines, only 1one line was found 76

77 to be immune to TLB while 37 were tolerant, 3 were resistant and 9 susceptible to the disease. Those lines reported by SPC, Fiji, as resistant/tolerant to TLB were found to be expressing the same character under Trivandrum field conditions suggesting that the resistant character reported by SPC is stable. The edible characters and flowering nature of the accessions were also studied to select the genotypes for participatory trials. Edible quality of leaves (both lamina and petiole) was checked for all the 50 accessions by cooking pieces of lamina and petiole in hot water for 20 minutes using separate containers kept in water bath. Edibility test showed 4 groups - totally edible having leaves and tubers free from acridity (36 lines), partially edible having edible tubers only (6 lines), leaves only edible (3 lines ) and non edible (5 lines). Flowering and Pollination: Flowering was observed in 22 INEA lines and pollen fertility studies were conducted in these lines. Pollen viability tests showed % pollen germination except for one line which showed only 18 percent. The spadices produced fruit bunches which on ripening were collected. The colour and size of mature fruits were recorded. The colour ranged from orange to green and dull green. Seeds were collected by squeezing the ripened fruits. They were washed, dried and stored in bottles with proper labeling. From the seeds collected, seed germination tests were conducted for 14 accessions. More than 85% germination was observed in all the accessions. Evaluation of Yield: Harvest and yield data showed that about 60% of the lines had good tuber yield of 18 t/ha. The lines included 33 dasheen types (major group), 5 intermediate types and 12 eddoe types. This polymorphism in tuber character may be useful to cater to the needs of the divergent market preference existing in different states of India. Since tuber is the economically important part these lines could be considered as commercially viable lines that could be tested in the FPR trials. For breeding and on- farm participatory selections, the fields of 50 farmers were identified in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. They were given informal pre- participatory training for the programme. WP- 4: Genetic studies- DNA (SSR and SNP) fingerprinting One of the important work programe was the DNA finger printing of taro germplasm of partner countries in order to assess the genetic diversity available in the different areas of the world. This will also help to select potential parental lines of taro. Dried leaf samples of 50 accessions (49 taro and 1 Xanthosoma sagittifolium) of indigenous germplasm were sent to CIRAD, France. For this purpose, 3 well developed leaves were collected from each accession, washed to remove traces of dirt, air dried and placed in newspaper bags. These bags were dried by keeping it in room temperature for about 3 weeks. The paper bags were replaced with new ones as and when required. The leaf samples were dried till it reached a constant weight. They were then packed and sent to CIRAD, France. Dendrogram was constructed for 44 Indian accessions with 11 SSR markers. It indicated the presence of two distinct groups of taro germplasm existing in India with maximum diversity occurring in North India and less in south India. Two distinct gene pools were identified - Gene pool 1 with 26 accessions and Gene pool 2 with 18 accessions. Gene pool 1 contained accessions from Southern States as well as those from North, East and North- Eastern States. Gene pool 2 contained accessions from only North and North- Eastern parts of India. Results showed that India holds tremendous genetic diversity of taro as already reported by earlier workers. (INEA, 2012; Velayudhan et al., 1991). Based on the number of related wild Colocasia species growing in India, it is hypothesized that the area between west Bengal and Bangladesh is the area of origin of C. esculenta. Prevalence of more number of triploid accessions were found in collection from North- eastern states. The above observations indicated that North and North- Eastern States contained maximum genetic diversity of Colocasia. Genetic variation in the accessions from the South is less and is confined to Gene Pool 1. Genetic divergence analysis of varieties from countries like South Africa and Ghana showed that they have very narrow genetic base and many of the accessions were duplicates. Taro has over the centuries, 77

78 been distributed very far from its area of origin in the form of clones. Subsequent selection of morphotypes adapted to local conditions, has generated many land races which often share very narrow genetic base. Hence, it is desirable to make hybrid lines between Asia and Pacific lines having genetic distance to generate maximum variation for wider selection. WP- 5: Drought resistance studies For conducting drought tolerance studies, cormels of 2 accessions of taro indigenous germplasm were sent to University of Madeira, Portugal. Studies on drought tolerance contributing factors are in progress. WP- 6: Physico- chemical characterization of corms Dried cormels slices (chips) of 10 indigenous taro accessions were sent to University of Maribor, Slovenia for conducting studies on starch and mineral contents in order to access the variation available in indigenous germplasm. For this, fresh, mature, healthy corms of Taro germplasm accession (8 Colocasia and 2 Xanthosoma) maintained at CTCRI, Trivandrum were selected based on different degrees of drought and TLB tolerance. 3Kg of fresh tuber samples were collected from field, brought to lab, washed and cleaned to get approximately 500 gm of dried chips. The skin of the corms was scrapped off and fresh weight was taken. These corms were then sliced and made to thin chips of uniform size, placed in paper bags and allowed to dry in an oven at a temperature of 40 0 C for 2 weeks till it gave a constant weight. The dry weight was taken and the percentage of dry matter also calculated and communicated to Slovenia. Macro and micro element determination studies conducted at the Slovenia showed that the Potassium values were highest among the clones from India (Potassium: ) followed by the germplasm from Coasta Rica. Starch content were highest in the cultivars from Indonesia followed by those from Coasta Rica (60-72%) and India (55-64%). Among the ten Indian taro, 4 lines were triploids and 2 diploids. The triploids and diploids showed almost equal starch content. Magnesium, Potassium, Phosphorous and Calcium contents were higher in diploids. Copper, Manganese, Zinc and Iron content were higher in triploids, compared to the diploids. The results showed that there existed wide variation in mineral contents between the different accessions. Higher ploidy levels were not found to contribute to better dry matter. WP- 7: Virus indexing and safe movement of germplasm conducted at Virus Department, DSMZ, Germany Freshly harvested cormels of 25 taro accessions were supplied to DSMZ, Germany for the virus detection. These corms were grown in insect proof net houses. Using serological methods, presence of virus were tested. Dasheen Mosaic Virus was confirmed on a number of plants showing typical symptoms. Partial Sequence Analysis showed considerable diversity among DMV isolates which is significant for the development of the virus diagnostic protocols. WP- 8 Distribution of allelic diversity Breeding programme through intervarietal crosses (exotic and local lines) is in progress for generating novel lines with resistance and quality characters for conducting trials in India as well as in other participating countries through seed exchange. Breeding programme involving 23 promising INEA accession and 5 local lines was carried out. Crosses between INEA lines and local lines as well as among INEA lines from Pacific and Thailand, Samoa, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Malaysia were carried out. Out of the 5 local lines, only 1 local line crossed with Samoan lines produced seeds. Between the INEA lines crosses, 36 were successful. Open pollinated seeds of 13 INEA lines were also collected for raising half- sib progeny (Table 2 & 3). In other words 38 full- sib seed families and 25 half- sib seed families were generated from the breeding programme. Further studies for selecting potential hybrid lines will be carried out in the ensuing years. 78

79 Acknowledgments: The studies conducted are funded by the European Union under the project "Adapting clonally propagated crops to climatic and commercial changes". References FAOSTAT FAO Statistical Database: Agricultural production of primary crops. James George., Sureshkumar, P. and Unnikrishnan, M Description of recommended / released varieties under AICRP on Tuber crops Technical Bulletin Series No 51, Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram. Jos, J.S., Vijaya Bai. K., and Unnikrishnan., M Cytomorphology of natural and induced polyploids in taro (Colocasia esculenta (L) Schott). J. Root Crops. 12(1): Lebot, V Genetic vulnerability of Oceania's traditional crops. Experimental Agriculture. 29: Mace, E.S., Mathew, P.N., Godwin, I.D., Hunter, D., Taylor, M.B., Swigh, D., Dehacy, J.H. and Jackson, G.V.H Development of regional core collection (Oceania) for taro, Colocasia esculenta (L), based on morphological and phenotypic characterization. In: Eyzaguirre, P.B., Ramanatha Rao, V. and Mathews, P. (eds). The global diversity of Taro, ethanobotany and conservation. IPGRI, Rome, Italy and MINPAKU (National Museum of ethanology), Osaka, Japan. Murashige, T. and Skoog, F A revised medium for rapid growth and bioassays with tobacco tissue culture. Physiologia plantarum. 15: Plucknett, D L Edible Aroids. In Simmonds N.W.(eds). Evaluation of Crop Plants. Longman, Harlow, UK. Pp Sthapit, B.R., Subedi, A., Rijal, D., Rana, R. and Jarvis, D Strengthening community based on farm conservation of agricultural biodiversity. A source Book. Vol 2. Strengthening local management of Agricultural Biodiversity. CIP- UPWARD, Laguna, Philippines. Pp Thankappan M Leaf Blight of Taro - A review. J. of Root Crops. 11(1&2): 1-8. Unnikrishnan, M., Nair, G.G., Thankammapllai, P.K., Vasudevan, K., Jos, J.S., Venkateswarlu, T., Thankappan, M and Lakshmi, K.R Sree Rashmi and Sree Pallavi : Two promising varieties of Colocasia. J. Root Crops. 13(2) : Unnikrishnan, M., Thankammapllai, P.K. and Vasudevan, K Evaluation of genetic resources of taro (Colocasia esculenta (L) schott ) J. Root Crops. 14 (1): Velayudhan, K. C., Muralidharan, K.K., Amal Raj, V. A., Thomas, P.A. and Rana, R.S Studies on the morphology, distribution and classification of an indigenous collection of Taro. J. Root Crops. 17 (2): International Network on Edible Aroids- Annual Report IPGRI descriptors for taro (Colocasia esculenta). International Plant Genetic Resource Institute, Rome, Italy. Pp50. Ivancic, A., Quero Garcia, J. and Lebot, V Development of visual tools for selecting qualitative corm characteristics of taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott). Australian J Agricultural Research. 54 (6)

80 Most interesting introduced lines in CTCRI Trivandrum: Sl. no. INEA Line code no Yield (t/ha) 1 CE/IND/ CE/THA/ CE/THA/ BL/SM/ BL/SM/ BL/SM/ CA/JP/ Accessions used for on- farm trials in Odisha: Sl. no. Accession Sl. no. Accession 1 CE/IND/06 12 BL/SM/151 2 CE/IND/10 13 BL/SM/157 3 CE/IND/12 14 BL/PNG/12 4 CE/IND/24 15 BL/PNG/13 5 CE/IND/31 16 CE/THA/07 6 CE/IND/32 17 CE/THA/10 7 BL/SM/80 18 BL/HW/08 8 BL/SM/ BL/HW/26 9 BL/SM/ BL/HW/37 10 BL/SM/ CA/JP/02 11 BL/SM/ CA/JP/04 80

81 2.11. Indonesia Made Sri Prana, LIPI, Bogor, Indonesia Introduction - LIPI received 50 taro genotypes from Fiji in Propagate, evaluate/select the 50 samples (includes agronomic and organoleptic characters: Done in 2012 and 2013, 26 genotypes were selected. - Propagate 26 selected genotypes/imported and 4 best local genotypes (30 in total): Partly done in Distribute the 30 genotypes to farmers for trial: Done, so far, in 3 villages in Sending of dried leaf samples to France: Done in Sending of dried corm samples to Slovenia: Done in Sending of corm samples with indication of virus infection: Corms have been collected (2024) and are ready for shipment but still awaiting for export permit. - Sending of corm samples having drought tolerant potency: Corms been collected (2014) and are ready for shipment but still awaiting for export permit. - Sending of seeds obtained from free and controlled pollinations: Will be done this year in the new collection site Field Trial (10 villages, 5 farmers each): Trials were conducted in three villages (Margajaya, Sukamantri, and Nagrak). Propagation of selected cultivars continued, applying both in vitro and conventional techniques in preparation for further socialization program. In two villages (Nagrak and Margajaya) the plants suffered from extreme dry period. Lately there was indication of setback in the in vitro propagation of several cultivars. This was indicated by reduced success of acclimatization process and change of morphological characters. Uncertainties regarding budget disbursements make it hard to make any commitment for fear of the financial consequences Farmers made all efforts to water the plots but the results were not optimum. The cultures of the 26 in selected genotypes have been renewed. Should the next budget disbursement be assured, the whole trials will be done simultaneously. Sending samples to partners Sending of corm samples of potentially dry tolerant cultivars /clones to Portugal. Request approval of the SMTA from Director of the Center (then countersign by the authority in Portugal). The corms have been obtained but still waiting for approval of the SMTA by the Director. He is rather reluctant to sign for worry of the possible consequences. The Research Team has asked the Director to speed up the process and will keep reminding him on the commitment. Sending of virus infected materials to Germany. Request approval of the SMTA from Director of the Center (then countersign by the authority in Germany). The materials (corms) are ready for shipment but still waiting for approval of the SMTA by Director of the Centre. The Team has asked the Director to speed up the process and will keep reminding him on the commitment. Sending of seeds obtained from artificial and natural pollination. Still waiting for further development of the plants recently distributed to the farmers. Flowering was not conducive so far in all sites. Soon 81

82 a special field will be established specifically for pollination programme. But similar problem may arise in the future in exporting the seeds. Problems encountered: With the current situation we have no other choice than pre- financing all the activities. This certainly is not desirable since: 1. Some of us may not have access to other fund source for either fully or partly pre- financing the activity 2. Should the temporary fund obtained can only cover part of the budget required then the action taken cannot be fully efficient. 3. In the case of financial problem occur (such as the one we all experienced in 2012) it may be wise to advise all the participating countries that they may temporary stop all the activities until the problem settled. 4. Every year we are facing uncertainty as to whether there will be budget disbursement or not and if the answer is yes when will it be? This is certainly makes it hard for us to plan and implement the activities. In reminding us on sending reports etc. (both quarterly and annual ones) please do not hesitate to specify the institutions/countries concerned. After all we are human that is capable of making mistakes or forgetting something. We do hope that prior to disbursing the budget, everyone of us should be informed in advance on the matter and asked for new bank details should there be any changes made by the beneficiaries. Pollination block in LIPI, Bogor 82

83 2.12. The Philippines Dilberto O. Ferraren, PhilRootCrops, BayBay, Visayas, Leyte, the Philippines Introduction The year 2014 proceeded with the continued establishment of cooperators and distribution of taro seed pieces to new areas. A summary of the extent of distribution is presented in Table 1. More than 2200 seed pieces of different taro accessions were distributed to 60 farmers of two municipalities (Maasin City and Dulag) in the island of Leyte, in The farmers of Maasin City were located in three different environs. The Hanginan area characterized as upland along the fringes of a denuded hillside and is prone to drought. Badiang is allocated along the highway and is characteristic of lowland irrigated area. However, the area is near the seawater and is bounded by marshy area. During high tide, seawater intrudes the rice field. Can- iwan is next to the beach side and the target area is continually flooded with sea water without any fresh water to wash out the salt that may accumulate. The problem is exacerbated by the presence of fish ponds. In 2014, a monitoring result found that farmers in Can- iwan that tried to plant taro in the highly saline area gave up. However, farmers who planted some materials in the higher grounds to escape from the intruding seawater still have some of the genotypes. The Badiang farmers were able to harvest and cooked the corms. However, they failed to maintain the complete set of introduced genotypes. Since each farmer had harvested and tasted the cooked corms, some genotypes rendered acrid or itchy experienced to the farmers. There was a failure to follow the instruction that each genotype must be tasted separately. But due to the need for food, they harvested several plants and cooked them as one batch, and thus genotypes without acridity were mixed with the acrid materials. Upon experiencing acrid corms, they concluded that the whole batch was acrid. An interesting observation was made from Brgy. Badiang. Farmers in Badiang grow their taro along the periphery of the rice paddy. Rice farming in Brgy. Badiang is supported by a continuous flow of fresh water irrigation. Some areas are near the marshy plots whose paddy fields are continually intruded with seawater. The availability of fresh water irrigation enabled the farmers to wash out the salt right after occurrence of a high tide. It was observed that a particular genotype (Binahi from PhilRootcrops- VSU) that had been adopted by the farmers in the late 1970 s, adapted to the situation. Binahi- Jungle grew well in this sea water- fresh water alternate irrigation system. The taste of the corm is a bit salty compared to those grown in areas without sea water intrusion. The Binahi genotype is being grown for commercial purposes. The Hanginan farmers planted the taro seed pieces in February However, only five farmers (out of the 25) had consistently good growing plants. In Maasin, February to June is part of the dry season, with summer months from March to June as distinctly dry. Farmers with good standing crops, had planted their materials under shade of coconut and large fruit trees. However, Hangingan farmers are now restoring their taro collections, but are looking forward to planting more taro materials and are requesting for more seed pieces to be grown for market purposes. Dulag farmers were ones of the worst affected by typhoon Haiyan of Farmer- cooperators from the three barangays of Rawis, Cabarasan and Rawis had almost had their materials washed out. This was due to the floods coming from the large river nearby and fallen debris of coconut. However, 83

84 restoration was done, and that some farmers tried to recover what has been distributed. Farmers who recovered some seed pieces also shared their taro seed pieces to other farmers. Activities of 2014: On station activities included maintenance of propagation plots. To formally compare performance of genotypes during the propagation phase, propagation plots were designed as replicated evaluation plots. This was a modification of the earlier management of propagating seed pieces for distribution. Genotypes with at least 40 seed pieces were grown in a two- row plot of 6 hills each. The rows were spaced at 0.75 m and each hill was set at 0.50 cm apart. The first evaluation was done under upland condition and the second wasunder lowland condition. Results of the evaluations under upland and lowland conditions are shown in Tables 2 and 3. Under upland condition (in June 2013 to February 2014), the introduced genotypes out- yielded the recommended varieties (VG- 2 and NSIC G9) (Table 2). Likewise, the dry matter content of the four of the introduced genotypes was higher than the recommended varieties. Sensory evaluation conducted resulted in a slightly to moderately disliked for two introduced genotypes (CEMAL 12 and BLSM 116). Under lowland condition (September 2013 to April 2014), seven introduced genotypes were evaluated with no entry of local or recommended varieties (Table 3). Introduced genotypes BLSM 111, CEIND 08 and BLPNG 13 are promising parents as source for genes for high dry matter content. However, it terms of general acceptability (sensory evaluation), these materials may not be good parents. Famers from Brgy.,Badiang, Maasin, So. Leyte, were able to harvest and tried some materials. But in general they did not keep the introduced genotypes as they claimed that most were acrid and rendered itchiness. The farmers of Brgy, Hanginan and Brgy, Badiang in Maasin, So, Leyte failed to record the identity of their preferred introduced genotype(s). Farmers of Brgy.Hangingan explained that they were not able to harvest all the genotypes due to the unavailability of irrigation water at the hillside. However, they still were able to taste some of the materials and and also were able to keep some genotypes. However, they can no longer identify them as they lost the labels and did not also religiously kept the lay out in a record book. To counter the wrong impression and the perception of the farmers in these two areas, a sensory evaluation was done in separate dates for each barangay. Corms harvested from the on- station propagation plots were brought to the barangay. Each corm was shown to the farmers, and farmers do not have preferred shapes of corms. The corms then were peeled and cooked (by steaming). After steaming farmers and housewives, including children were made to taste the cooked corms. Only adult farmers and housewives were asked to make comments and score the materials according to informal procedure of identifying which is the best or the least among the materials presented. In Brgy Badiang, farmers were given several pieces of paper and were asked to write on it the numbers corresponding to their perception. The scores are as follows: 1 best, 2 very good, 3 good, 4 not so good, 5 least preferred. They were also asked to write comments on the paper, the trait they could describe the corms. Table 4 shows the famers of Brgy. Badiang scored BLPNG 09 and BLSM 151 the least. However, the rest of the genotypes were acceptable for food. This also erases their suspicion of the non- favorable palatability of the corms when cooked. Some the genotypes were comparable to their local variety 84

85 which was Binahi- Jungle. Farmers of Brgy.Hanginan evaluated a different set of genotypes in March Table 5 shows that several of the introduced genotypes were more preferred than some of the locally grown genotypes. However, the BLSM 80 grown either in Brgy. Hanginan or from the on- station area, this was not much preferred. Some introduced genotypes had favorably strong aroma which was detected by the farmers. In addition to the earlier evaluation, a much larger evaluation was done in February to October 2014 on station. Thirty introduced genotypes and seven local genotypes/varieties were evaluated in a three row trials of 8 plant- hills per row. The rows were spaced at 1 m and hills were 0.4 m apart. The trial was replicated three times. Table 6 provides a better picture of the probable genotypes to be selected later for distribution in a wider scale. However, the materials to be selected from this trial will then be further evaluated in five regional sites. These regional sites are part of the National Root Crop Cooperative Testing Program, prior for recommendation as variety. Recognition of a genotype as recommended variety allows famers to grow the genotype in wider scale for commercial purpose, and farmers can apply for crop loan. A two- site trial was conducted on- station (PhilRootcrops Experiment Station) and in Brgy. Magcalape, Asturias, Cebu. The evaluation in Cebu is in answer for the request of the Municipal Government for distribution of rootcrop planting materials. Instead of directly distributing the materials to farmers and losing the control of monitoring, a trial was established that shall act as showcase and nursery for the town. The nursery will later be source of planting materials by farmers. Collection maintained at PhilRootCrops, BayBay, Visayas, Leyte 85

86 Planned activities for 2015 to 2016 Activities : 2015 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 1. Continue the propagation of seed pieces of selected genotypes X X X X for distribution to more farmers and for regional trials 2. Continue the two- site evaluation in Asturias- Cebu and Baybay- X X X X Leyte 3. Continue monitoring the farmer- recipients in Maasin - So. Leyte, X X X X Dulag Leyte, Lintaon- Baybay- Leyte and Giporlos E. Samar. Commercial planting in Dulag will be given priority. 4. Re- establish the breeding nursery and produce seeds either by X X crossing or selfing. 5. Evaluate the progenies of crosses and selfs obtained from VARTC X X X for selection and distribution to farmers in identified areas. 6. Evaluate the starch attributes of some selected genotypes for X X different uses 7. Set up additional evaluation site in Asturias- Cebu to continue to X Bench marking of the status of distributed genotypes in different localities. Survey will be done to see how far other farmers share the genotypes, and how these genotypes had entered the market. Activities: Start five- site regional trial: Bicol region, CAR, NOMIARC, X CENVIARC, EVIARC 10. Monitor the five site regional trial X X X X 11. Single plant to single row evaluation of progenies obtained from X X X X VARTC 12. Evaluation of progenies generated at PhilRootcrops from crosses X X X X among introduced and local genotypes 13. Monitoring of farmer beneficiaries on the status of cropping and X X X X commercialization/marketing of the genotypes distributed. 14. Monitoring and tracing of the dispersal of the distributed genotypes. X X X X 86

87 Table 1. Dates and locations for the taro seed piece distribution and number of Farmer- Recipients Date of distn Feb 2013 March 2013 Jan Province Municipality Barangay Number of Farmers Southern Leyte Number of seedpieces Maasin Hanginan Badiang Can- iwan Number of Genotypes Leyte Dulag Cabarasan Rawis Alegre Leyte Baybay Lintaon 1 (nursery) Jan Feb. 19, 2014 Southern Leyte Eastern Samar Bontoc Pamahawan Sogod Concepcion Suba T. Oppus Banday Giporlos San Isidro Biga Coticot Nov. 27, 2014 Cebu Asturias Magcalape 1 (nursery) Magcalape 10 * Ten farmers who helped in the establishment of the trial/nursery were able to carry at least three seed pieces of each of the 28 genotypes. Additional genotypes will be distributed on February 2015, since several farmers have requested for planting materials. 87

88 Table 2. Means of characters measured from the June 2013 to Feb 2014 evaluation (upland) Genotypes Herbage Yield (kg/plot) Corm Yield (kg/plot) Dry matter content (%) Sensory Evaluation Flavor Texture Aroma Itchiness General Acceptability (n = 10) BLSM Fibrous 6 6 BLSM Sticky 6 6 CEMAL Fibrous 6 3 BLSM BLSM Too wet 6 7 VG Sticky 6 9 NSIC G LSD (0.05) ND Table 3. Means of characters measured from September 2013 to April 2014 (lowland) Genotypes Herbage Yield (kg/plot) Corm weight (kg/plot) Dry matter content (%) Sensory Evaluation Flavor Texture Aroma Itchiness General Acceptability (n = 10) BLSM BLSM CEIND CEIND CEIND BLPNG CEIND LSD (0.05) Sensory Evaluation Scale: 1 Dislike extremely 6 Like slightly 2 Dislike very much 7 Like moderately 3 Dislike moderately 8 Like very much 4 Dislike slightly 9 Like extremely 5 Neither like nor dislike 88

89 Table 4. Result sensory evaluation of different taro accessions evaluated by farmers (n = 25) of Brgy.Badiang, Maasin, S. Leyte; March 4, 2014 Entries Acceptability Ranking Mean Median Mode BLSM 138 1,1, CEMAL 14 1,3 2 2 BLSM 132 1,3,3,3, BLSM 115 1,1,3,3, BLHW 26 1,2,3 2 2 CEMAL 12 2,2, BLSM 116 2,3,4 3 3 BLPNG 09 5, BLSM 136 1,3,3, BLSM 149 2,2, BLSM 147 1,3 2 2 BLSM 151 4, BLSM 80 1,3 2 2 Iniito 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1, Kahislot 2,2,2,2,2,2,2, Binahi - Jungle 1,1,1, Rank: 1- Best least 89

90 Table 5. Result of the sensory evaluation conducted by famers (n = 25) of Brgy. Hanginan, Maasin, So. Leyte on 12 March 2015 Entries Acceptability Aromatic Mealy Glutinous Acrid Lagat BLHW BLSM BLSM BLSM BLSM BLSM BLSM BLSM BLSM BLSM BLSM BLSM BLSM BLSM BLSM CEMAL CEMAL BLSM 151 Hanginan BLSM 80 Hanginan BLSM 80 Hanginan II KAHISLOT LOCAL VG VG- 2 HANGINAN

91 Table 6. Means of some measured traitsfrom the February to October 2014 (Upland) Evaluation Genotypes Corm yield (t/ha) Corm weight (kg) Number of plants harvested Number of suckers per plot Flavor Texture Gen. Acceptability (n = 15) BLHW BLHW BLHW BLWH BLPNG BLPNG BLPNG BLPNG BLSM BLSM BLSM BLSM BLSM BSLM BLSM BLSM BLSM BLSM BLSM BLSM BLSM BLSM BLSM CEIND CEIND CEIND CEIND CEIND CEMAL CEMAL KAHISLOT NSIC G NSIC G PSB G PSB G PSB G VG LSD (5%)

92 2.13. Papua New Guinea Cyril Atung, Jeffrey Waki and Birte Komolong, NARI, Lae, Papua New Guinea Introduction The Papua New Guinea (PNG) National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) is one of the partner countries in the International Network for Edible Aroids (INEA) implementing the project Adapting clonally propagated crops to climatic and commercial changes supported by the European Union. This report summarizes activities and achievement in Year 4 (2014) of implementation by the Institute in the Work packages it is participating in. Work package (WP) 1: Project Management Activities The Institute has provided regular updates and quarterly reports to the technical project coordinator in the prescribed format and submitted the Annual financial report 2013 to LRD- SPC as the administrative coordination unit. WP 2: Distribution of 30 selected genotypes to village communities NARI selected 30 genotypes from introduced and local taro genotypes after initial on- station evaluation trials at the beginning of the project from Once selections were completed the materials were propagated further to generate sufficient planting material to establish participatory evaluation trials in the selected village communities. This is an on- going activity and was continued throughout WP 3: Breeding and on- farm participatory selection and evaluation Towards the end of 2013, NARI staff working in the project selected a total of 60 genotypes (15 NARI core collection, 28 exotic INEA lines, 14 advanced breeding lines from NARI taro breeding programme) for further breeding work using head setts. This was deemed necessary as previous attempts of hybridization was not very successful due to various reasons including unfavourable weather (very wet conditions, bird damage, uneven flowering etc). The plots were maintained throughout the year. At 3 and 4 months after planting genotypes that did not show good flowering ability were treated with 0.5g/l Gibberellic acid to promote flower development. By end of quarter , a total of 185 crosses were made, with a 93% developing seed to maturity. The other 7% failed to produce seeds or seeds were damaged by caterpillars. From the harvested seed, 60% successfully germinated and were transplanted into pots. Seedlings will be transplanted into the field in 2015 for initial selections and further distribution of single genotypes to participating farmers for their further selection. Table 1 shows information on the 17 crosses made. 50% of the seedlings will be transplanted into the field in early Table 1. Successful crosses and seed totals currently potted and hardened in the screen house No Fparent Mparent Family code Total seedlings Survival rate (%) 1 BL/SM/151 BC867 NCeS/ BL/SM/157 BC867 NCeS/ CE/IND/31 BC867 NCeS/ JY11 BL/SM/104 NCeS/ BL/SM/151?? NCeS/

93 No Fparent Mparent Family code Total seedlings Survival rate (%) 6 NT02 C5-353 NCeS/ BL/SM/111 C5-216 NCeS/ Keselevenga?? NCeS/ C5-353 BL/SM/104 NCeS/ CE/IND/06 C4-150 NCeS/ C4-150 CE/IND/16 NCeS/ BL/SM/148 C5-216 NCeS/ C5-353 BL/SM/151 NCeS/ NT01 C5-353 NCeS/ BL/SM/111 BC867 NCeS/ CE/MAL/07 C5-353 NCeS/ BL/HW/05 C5-353 NCeS/ WP 4: DNA fingerprinting of varieties and full- sib families and heritability studies As part of this work package NARI supplied CIRAD with samples from PNG genotypes in the earlier part of the project. No further samples were sent in Staff collected however, samples from Xanthosoma saggitifolium (Chinese Taro in PNG), which is an introduced crop in PNG but has gained significant importance in many areas as a resilient crop for household food security as well as local sales. The University of Nicaragua has kindly offered to DNA fingerprint samples of Chinese taro from partner countries and NARI is planning to send samples in The following is a description of the varieties collection in East New Britain Province. Xanthosoma Samples Xanthosoma saggitifolium is the second most important staple crop in East New Britain province behind banana. It was revealed during the survey that there are four different varieties of Xanthosoma cultivated by farmers. The sampling was conducted in Burit and Kerevat. About four varieties were identified (Table 2) and shows the varieties and their description. Table 2. Some characteristics of the Xanthosoma sp collected in East New Britain Province Description Xanthosoma sp. (local names) Oko Singkale Buka Apua Corm flesh colour purple white purple white Petiole colour Dark purple Light green Creamy green Dark light green Leaf sheath Dark purple purple purple green Collection site Navuvu Burit Burit Burit District Gazelle Gazelle Gazelle Gazelle Province ENBP ENBP ENBP ENBP WP 5: Drought resistance of elite varieties and seedlings 93

94 As in WP4 NARI participated by sending samples of potentially drought tolerant genotypes from PNG to the University of Madeira. No further samples were sent in WP 6: Physico- chemical characterisation of corms of selected genotypes In 2013 NARI supplied samples of 10 selected genotypes for pysico- chemical studies to the University of Maribor. Some of the results were presented at a conference with NARI staff invited as co- authors for the paper. The conference was the "7th Annual International Symposium on Agriculture, July 2014, Athens, Greece" and the paper titled: The content of starch and minerals of Papua New Guinea taro (Colocasia esculenta) cultivars by A. Mergedus, C. Atung, B. Komolong, J. Kristl, V. Lebot. WP 7: Virus detection and identification on seedlings from true taro seeds No further samples were submitted to DMSZ in 2014 by NARI in support of virus detection studies. WP 8: On- farm participatory selection of elite varieties and hybrids in C1 generation Work package 8 contains the bulk of the activities implemented by NARI in NARI has established 22 field trials at 11 communities in 4 provinces with a selected set of 34 taro accessions from introduced INEA lines and local germplasm plus 5 local check varieties. Table 2 and Figure 2 provide an overview of the sites. Table 2. Locations of field trials established in Papua New Guinea Province Communities No. of trials Madang Derin 4 Murukanam 3 Morobe Ragiampum (Markham Valley) 1 Buhalu (Labuta LLG) 2 Buakab (Salamaua LLG) 3 Salamaua 1 East New Britain Navuku 1 Vunapalading 2 Burit 2 Eastern Highlands Yonki 2 Kassam 1 The trials at Madang and East New Britain (ENB) were established first and have been harvested in 2014, while trials at other sites will be harvested from early 2015 onwards. The following report is summarizing the methodologies used in establishing the field trials and results from the trials at Madang and preliminary results from ENB trials. 94

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j1?&'OI:;?+;)OJ&T+& >/&M; );< `V:; J)KTO ^(&L K&,)K G)/T:/,1K(+Q)/_ ^I)3K: 2_# IC: (/+)K' +; H)<);0 );< \.> M:/: C)/Q:'(:<+;:)/KRl1;:);<7:,:T3:/"4$5O/:'L:,(+Q:KR# E%N&(C1E%+*8%+7(,7(9%#:,F(7+*+7H7#$9(:7#*#K5%+3,+7%&9 R$&,78%+ [+7H# >Wha9h4=O>Wha9h"AO>Wha9h2D >WhFHh52O>WhFHhE4O>WhFHh$45O>WhFHh$$$O>WhFHh$$=O >WhFHh$$AO>WhFHh$"4O>WhFHh$"EO>WhFHh$2"O>WhFHh$2AO >WhFHh$52O>WhFHh$5EO>WhFHh$5-O>WhFHh$=$O>WhFHh$="O >WhFHh$=DO>WhFHh$=E %=["5=O%=[2=2O%=[$-$O%=[$--O%=["$AO%=["25O%=[245O%=[24EO%5[ $=4O%5[$=2.I4$O.I4".1T?&M:OjJ`F."DO2$-h5$ %\h8.7h$5o%\h8.7h$ao%\h8.7h2$ %\hh6wh4do%\hh6wh$"o%\hh6wh$5_ W6.8FOjPj`FOI\.j8.6OJ`H8`>*`9.O`r\.J6WH a)m)++;3/::<+;0k+;:^%:j)%i_ F)T&);3/::<+;0K+;:^%:J)%I_.6*8)<Q);,:3/::<+;0K+;:^%R,K:=_.6*8/:K:)':<I)/&Q)/+:(+:' J.BI)/&B:/TLK)'T%&KK:,(+&; 8;<+)^%:J)%I_ H)K)R'+)^%:J)%I_ 95

96 2. Information on trial locations Derin: Derin in Transgogol, Madang district (approx 40 m.a.s.l) is on a flood plain and dense forest area. Annual rainfall is >2800 mm/year with a mean annual temperature of 26.6 C. At Derin (wetland trial) five trials were initially planted at different sub- sites (Kumulung, Derin, Kohur, and Hainer Villages) but reduced to 4 sites after wild pigs destroyed the trial at one of the farmer fields. Murukanam: Murukanam is located at the North coast of Madang on the border of Bogia and Sumkar districts. Annual rainfall is <2800 mm/year and quite seasonal with lowest rainfalls between June and September. For Murukanam (dryland) trial, three trials were planted, two close to the coastal villages of (Sarman, and Sabente) and one trial located further inland at Eranduk Village (approx 225 m.a.s.l) with a mean annual temperature of C. East New Britain trials The second set of trials was planted in East New Britain in the New Guinea Islands Region. The trials were planted in May 2014 and harvested in December These trials consisted of 34 test varieties and 5 control checks. The test varieties include (22 INEA lines, 10 advance PNG breeding lines, 2 NARI released lines (NT01 and NT02) and one PNG landrace (Numkowe) and four farmer local varieties (Kukos, Tenkina, Pomio Brown and Oxen Palm). One trial was established at the NARI Islands Regional Centre at Navuvu (Kerevat), two in the Vunapalading community and two at Burit all in the Inland Baining Local Level Government of the Gazelle District. 3. Trial design Each trial was planted using an augmented design with 6 blocks and 4 standard checks were replicated within blocks (Table 4 shows the example from Madang trials). Each plot consisted of five data plants without guard rows. The plot size was 1 x 0.5m between and within rows with each plot covering 2.5m 2. The trials were planted near old gardens which provided an excellent source of taro leaf blight caused by Phytophthora colocasia inoculums ensuring heavy disease pressure to allow spores to migrate to new plots to infest new varieties. Table 4. Field plan lay- out for on- farm trial at Derin and Murukanam trials Blocks BL/SM/158 NT02 BL/HW/37 Numkowe BL/SM/111 NT02 Numkowe BL/SM/ /41 BL/SM/43 NT01 BL/SM/149 CE/MAL/14 NT01 NT02 LANIS Numkowe BL/SM/120 NT02 BL/SM/152 BL/SM/157 CE/IND/14 BL/SM/116 LANIS BL/SM/80 LANIS Numkowe CE/MAL/07 LANIS BL/SM/151 NT01 KPOSN27 C5-353 NT01 NT02 NT01 CE/IND/31 Numkowe LANIS BL/SM/115 BL/HW/26 BL/HW/05 LANIS BL/SM/148 CE/IND/16 BL/SM/128 BL/SM/132 Numkowe BL/SM/136 CE/MAL/12 NT01 NT02 BL/SM/143 C Data collection The severity of taro leaf blight (TLB) was estimated using the standard area diagram developed by Gollifer and Brown (1974) (Figure 3). The percentage disease leaf area was estimated for five leaves on each accession and the mean disease area for each plant was determined by dividing the total of the assessment for each leaf by the total number of leaves inspected (Hunter and Pouono 1998). The 96

97 ',&/:'M:/:(C:;,&;Q:/(:<1'+;0(C:G&KK&M+;0',)K:G/&T4[=^4~4mO$~=mO"~$4mO2~"=mO5~=4mO =~D=m_# IW><)()M:/:,&KK:,(:<)()/&1;<2[5T&;(C')G(:/LK);(+;0);<)(C)/Q:'(# M7H$+(C1F();<)/<)/:)<+)0/)TG&/:'(+T)(+;0(C:L:/,:;()0:&GK:)G)/:)<)T)0:3R()/&K:)G3K+0C( ^B&KK+G:/);<>/&M;$-D5_ 6( C)/Q:'( ) L)/(+,+L)(&/R :Q)K1)(+&; M)',&;<1,(:< &; G)/T M+(C (C: G)/T:/' +; G+:K< (& ':K:,( Q)/+:(+:'3)':<&;0/&M(CG&/TO,&/T'C)L:);<'+Z:OR+:K<O()/&K:)G3K+0C(O</&10C();<&(C:/(/)+(',&;'+<:/:< 3R (C: G)/T:/' ^I)3K: 2 k M:/: ()?:; +;(& (C: G+:K< );< )'?:< (& Q+'1)KKR ':K:,( Q)/+:(+:' 3)':< &; (C: )3&Q: T:;(+&;:<,/+(:/+)# 6( C)/Q:'( )'':''T:;( M)' )K'& <&;: G&/ <)T)0:3R()/&3::(K:1'+;0)',)K:&G4[5^4[;&<)T)0:i$~'+;0K:3::(K:3&/:C&K:&/$4m,&/T <)T)0:O"~(M&(&(C/::3&/:C&K:'&/$4[54m<)T)0:O2~G+Q:C&K:'&/54[E4m,&/T<)T)0:);< 5~G+Q:&/T&/:C&K:'&/T&/:(C);E4m,&/T<)T)0:^F1(C:/K);<1;L13K+'C:<_# >%,7#Hp$%&7,4"99(993(#, 6G(:/C)/Q:'("[2,&/T')TLK:'^$44[=440/)T'_M:/:,&KK:,(:<G/&T:),C0:;&(RL:G&/:)(+;0Y1)K+(R (:'(#IC:,&/T'M:/:L::K:<);<'K+,:<+;(&)LL/&V+T)(:KR=4[-40/)T'L+:,:'^/:T&Q+;0)KK(+''1: '1//&1;<+;0(C:0/&1;<(+''1:_);<3)00:<+;(&,1(&;+&;3)0');<3&+K:<+;:V,:''M)(:/G&/24[54 T+;1(:'&/1;(+K,&&?:<#6(3&(C'+(:')L);:K&G$4["4,&TT1;+(RT:T3:/'#IC:(:'(M)',&;<1,(:< G&/(C:G&KK&M+;0(/)+(':),C',&/:<G/&T)/);0:&G$[5^$[ Ä"~1;),,:L()3K:O"[ 2~0&&<Op2~ :V,:KK:;(_U I/)+( 9:+0C(G),(&/ I:V(1/: 4#= 6,/+<+(R 4#2 6/&T) 4#$ IC:G+;)K/)(+;0M)',)K,1K)(:<3RT1K(+LKR+;0(C:,&;'();(G),(&/Q)K1:M+(C(C:),(1)K',&/:G&/:),C (/)+(^F+;0C:()K#"44$_#IC:&Q:/)KK/)(+;0M)'<:(:/T+;:<3R)Q:/)0+;0(C:',&/:'&G)KK(:'(:/'(& &3()+;G+;)K/)(+;0&G(C:Q)/+:(R# 97

98 5. Statistical Analysis The data was analysed using MS excel pivot tables. The main data parameters of interest were yield, TLB and eating quality. The Data were also collected on plant height, flowering, growth vigour, suckers, and stolons number. Also observations were made on varieties suitable for swamp cultivation (Derin) which includes low suckering, deformed corm shapes and high acridity type varieties and drought response in the two sites. The response of varieties to drought were part of the assessment in the Murukanam community where farmers selection was basically based on the number of leaves present or no corm rot through visual observation. 6. Results 6.1 Madang Trials Derin (Wetland Trials) Table 5 shows the results of the on- farm trials as averages across the four trial sites for vegetative growth characters (plant height, stolon and sucker numbers, flowering ability, vigour and TLB rating) as well as harvest data (corm weight, corm yield in t/ha, eating quality score and rating). The highest yielding genotypes were PNG advance breeding line C5-353 followed by Samoan breeding line BL/SM/148.The lowest yielding genotypes were CE/IND/16, Numkowe, BL/HW/26, CE/IND/14 and the local variety LANIS (>100 and <400grams) in corm weight. Corm yield, shape and size seemed to be affected by the number of suckers and genotypes which had the highest number of suckers were observed to be producing deformed corm shapes and low corm sizes and yield for instance BL/SM/111, BL/HW/05, BL/SM/151 BL/SM/132, and CE/IND/14. Disease observation on farm A number of diseases were observed during vegetative growth and at harvest. They include Taro Leaf Blight caused by Phytophthora colocasiae, Shot hole disease caused by Phoma sp., which was observed on the waxy type leafy genotypes (BL/SM/120, 128, 152, 80, 157, 104) corm soft rot caused by Pythium sp and Colocasia bobone disease virus(cbdv) which caused leaf distortions of varieties on farm and its effect was evident in the following varieties BL/SM/157, 158, 152, 120, CE/IND/14 Lanis and BL/HW/37). Taro accessions most affected by TLB included clones from the PNG Taro Germplasm collection and two genotypes from Malaysia. Most other varieties showed medium to high levels of resistance (Table 5). Table 5. The mean growth and yield parameters of the 34 taro genotypes grown in the Derin community (four trials combined) Cultivar Plant height (cm) Sucker # stolon # Flower form Vigour TLB rating (%) corm weight (g) corm yield (t/ha) EQ score Taste C excellent BL/SM/ excellent 319/ unacceptable BL/SM/ excellent BL/SM/ excellent BL/SM/ good BL/SM/ excellent C good BL/HW/ good BL/SM/ unacceptable KPOSN good 98

99 Cultivar Plant height (cm) Sucker # stolon # Flower form Vigour TLB rating (%) corm weight (g) corm yield (t/ha) EQ score Taste BL/SM/ excellent BL/SM/ excellent BL/SM/ excellent CE/IND/ good BL/SM/ excellent BL/SM/ excellent CE/MAL/ excellent BL/SM/ good BL/SM/ good BL/SM/ good NT01* excellent NT02* good BL/SM/ unacceptable BL/HW/ unacceptable CE/MAL/ excellent BL/SM/ unacceptable BL/SM/ unacceptable CE/IND/ good NUMKOWE* excellent CE/MAL/ unacceptable BL/HW/ good CE/IND/ excellent LANIS* excellent + - flower absent, ++- rarely flower, +++- highly flowering, * - standard checks genotypes EQS score: 1 =unacceptable, 2 =good and 3 = outstanding Eating Quality Assessment All 26 varieties of the exotic genotypes and 4 local genotypes including breeding lines (30 lines total) were evaluated for blind panel taste test against four local check varieties. Table 3 results indicated that 13 genotypes were outstanding, 10 were rated as good which included genotypes such as NT02, CE/IND/16, BL/SM/104 and 111 that had some degree of acridity. Seven genotypes were rated as unacceptable and found to be very irritating by the panel. Murukanam (Dryland Trials) In Murukanam & Eranduk, the normal dry season from June to September/October extended into November 2013 and the trials initially suffered from drought conditions. This required some replanting of accessions at the first observation visit in December Another dry period was experienced in May 2014 the month before the trial was harvested. At Eranduk Village already started harvesting the trial before NARI staff arrived for the planned harvest of the trial so that trial data could not be collected for all clones fully. Table 6 shows that 17 genotypes out of the 34 genotypes evaluated at three different sites at Murukanam performed better in terms of corm weight and corm yield (t/ha), corm shape and size, TLB severity and corm taste (Table 4). The highest yielding varieties were PNG advanced breeding 99

100 line C5-353, 319/41 from the PNG National Taro collection and the Samoan breeding lines BL/SM/143 and 43. The lowest corm weights were produced by CE/IND/14, the local accession LANIS and a Hawaiin clone BL/HW/26 which were the lowest ranking clones at Derin trials as well (Table 3 and 4). Disease observation on farm The disease observation on farm was similar to Derin trials, P. colocasiae, shot hole disease caused by Phoma sp., which was observed on the waxy type leafy genotypes in Derin were also observed on the same genotypes in Murukanam, Debor and Eranduk (BL/SM/120, 128, 152, 80, 157, 104), corm soft rot caused by Pythium sp was observed on some clones such as NT02, NT01, 319/41 and BL/SM/80 despite the drier conditions compared to Derin site. Colocasia bobone disease virus (CBDV) which caused leaf distortions of varieties on farm and its effect was evident only in NT02 at Murukanam trial. Some of the Samoan Breeding lines showed higher levels of TLB infection as well as the local accession LANIS and the PNG accession NUMKOWE. Overall, disease incidence and severity was low aided by the dry conditions experienced in May before harvest (Table 6). Eating Quality Assessment All 34 lines were evaluated for blind taste test. About 23 participants conducted the blind panel taste test. Farmers from other sites were transported to Murukanam Village to conduct the test on the 30 lines against four local checks. Table 4 results indicate that many of the Samoan and PNG breeding lines were rated excellent while most of the other accessions were rated good including some with some level of acridity e.g. CE/IND/16, BL/SM/104 and 111. Interestingly, those are very similar results to the one obtained from the Derin taste panel including the assessment as unacceptable for BL/HW/05. Table 6. Mean growth and yield parameters of the 34 genotypes evaluated under dry land condition at Murukanam (three trials combined) Cultivar Plant height (cm) Sucker# stolon # Flower form Vigour TLB rating (%) corm weight (g) corm yield (t/ha) EQ score C excellent BL/SM/ excellent 319/ good BL/SM/ good BL/SM/ good BL/HW/ good BL/SM/ excellent KPOSN good BL/SM/ good BL/SM/ excellent NT01* good C excellent NT02* good NUMKOWE* good BL/SM/ excellent BL/SM/ excellent BL/SM/ good BL/SM/ good Taste 100

101 Cultivar Plant height (cm) Sucker# stolon # Flower form Vigour TLB rating (%) corm weight (g) corm yield (t/ha) EQ score BL/SM/ good BL/SM/ excellent BL/HW/ unacceptable CE/MAL/ good CE/IND/ good BL/SM/ excellent CE/IND/ good BL/SM/ good CE/MAL/ good BL/SM/ good CE/MAL/ good BL/SM/ excellent BL/SM/ good CE/IND/ excellent LANIS excellent BL/HW/ good + - flower absent, ++- rarely flower, +++- highly flowering, * - standard checks genotypes EQS score: 1 =unacceptable, 2 =good and 3 = excellent Farmer selections: In both sites farmers were keen to keep most of the clones for further evaluation. At Derin, farmers also selected for suitability for swamp cultivation of taros and some of the accessions with lower yield (e.g. accessions from Indonesia, Malaysia and Hawaii) or those with poor sucker production (e.g. BL/HW/37, BL/SM/148 and 143) were considered for this purpose. Otherwise farmers decided on growth form, corm shape and size. At Murukanam, farmers also noted genotypes that appeared to be coping better under dry conditions based on number of leaves on the plant, survival of the plants and quality of the corms. Some of the genotypes had dried leaves but the corms did not rot and were considered good for drought because corms remained fresh in the soil for a longer period of time (Annex 2). 6.2 East New Britain Trials (draft report) The ENB trials were harvested late in 2014 and results reported here are only preliminary. Five trials were initially planted with 2 trials located at Vunapalading and Burit respectively while Kerevat (Navuvu) consisted of only one single trial. The best yielding varieties from Kerevat (Navuvu) were from Samoan breeding lines (BL/SM/136, 148,132 and 151 while PNG NARI released NT01 was amongst the top five varieties (Table 7). In the Vunapalding trials the highest yielding varieties were BL/SM/157, NT01, C5-353, BL/SM/143, 43, and HW/05. While the Burit trial means ranged from 1.8 to 16.5 t/ha with the following PNG breeding lines NT01, C5-353 C5-216 and followed by Samoan breeding lines BL/SM/143, 157 and 43. The yield rank in these trials was no different to the Madang rank means. The lowest yielding varieties were similar across sites and these includes Samoan breeding lines BL/SM/149,120,116, followed by Indonesian lines CE/IND/16, 14 and PNG breeding lines C5-234,C5-191 and C Disease Assessment Data for the TLB assessment are not presented here. Methodology applied for the assessment differed from the one described above due to some misunderstanding with staff assigned for the Taste 101

102 assessment. General observations indicate that across the three sites in East New Britain lowest severities were observed on BL/SM/115, BL/HW/05 followed by the maximum values in BL/SM/136, 43, 148, 149, and PNG breeding lines C5-245, C5-353, C4-150, C5-126, C5-245 and NT02. Other susceptible lines included CE/IND/14, 16 and Malaysian line CE/MAL/07 and the highly susceptible control Oxen Palm. High severity on Samoan and PNG breeding lines was not expected as they were showing high levels of resistance elsewhere. One contributing factor could be that field trials in ENB sites were planted under heavy shade, possibly creating very conducive conditions for disease development. However, those observations require further investigation including exploring variation of the pathogen population in aggressiveness in causing disease. Eating Quality Assessment Eating quality in East New Britain was done at each trial site and about participants were involved to rate the cultivars from unacceptable to excellent. At Navuvu trial Samoan Line BL/SM/136 was rated excellent while 11 varieties were rated as good. In the Vunapalading trials mean eating quality across two trials showed that the best tasting varieties were BL/SM/104,149,120 and PNG advance breeding lines C5-308,C5-304 and C4-150 and local cultivar Pomio Brown. The rest were rated good (Table 7). Table 7. Mean corm yield (t/ha) and taste preferences of the 39 test varieties at three different sites in East New Britain Province Variety Navuvu Vunapalading Burit Corm yield t/ha Taste Corm yield t/ha Taste Corm yield t/ha Taste BL/SM/ excellent 6.9 Unacceptable 7.4 good OXEN PALM 7.5 good 6.1 Good 6.7 good NT good 16.2 Good 12.2 good POMIO BROWN 7.1 Good 10.9 Excellent 6.7 good BL/SM/ Good 8.5 Good 4.2 good NT good 11.5 Good 11.1 good KUKOS 6.7 good 12.2 Good 10.6 good BL/SM/ Unacceptable 8.1 Good 8.1 good BL/SM/ unacceptable 7.1 Good 7.0 good BL/HW/ good 10.2 Unacceptable 8.2 good NUMKOWE 5.8 unacceptable 9.0 good 4.7 excellent BL/SM/ unacceptable 7.9 Good 4.0 good BL/SM/ good 7.3 Good 6.4 good C good 14.1 Excellent 16.5 good BL/SM/ unacceptable 5.7 Good 7.2 good C good 8.5 Good 7.9 good C unacceptable 7.6 Excellent 6.8 good BL/SM/ good 14.0 Good 14.6 good CE/MAL/ good 4.2 Good 4.3 good BL/HW/ good 4.1 Good 3.8 good TENKINA 3.1 good 8.9 unacceptable 6.6 excellent C good 8.5 Good 8.4 good C unacceptable 4.0 Good 4.0 good BL/SM/ Good 10.6 Good 8.8 good BL/SM/ Good 9.6 Good 5.4 good 102

103 Variety Navuvu Vunapalading Burit Corm yield t/ha Taste Corm yield t/ha Taste Corm yield t/ha Taste C good 6.4 Good 5.6 good BL/SM/ Good 6.0 Excellent 6.9 good BL/SM/ Good 16.3 Good 9.3 good C good 4.4 Excellent na na CE/IND/ good 1.3 Good 1.9 good BL/SM/ unacceptable 5.1 Good 4.1 good CE/IND/ unacceptable 2.5 Good 1.8 good BL/SM/ good 2.8 Excellent 3.2 good C unacceptable 5.8 Good 5.2 good C good 11.1 Excellent na na BL/SM/ unacceptable 2.8 Good 3.4 good BL/SM/ good 3.7 Excellent 1.9 unacceptable C good 3.9 Good 2.6 good CE/MAL/ n/a 7.4 Good 5 good 7. General observations There was generally a positive response from farmers participating in the trials. Farmers were keen to evaluate and access new germplasm for diversification of their systems. The results from this study showed that the best performing accessions were the introduced Samoan breeding lines and PNG advance breeding line C5 in terms of yield, TLB and eating quality; and this was similar across the agro- ecological zones in the Madang and East New Britain trials. These results are not unexpected as the parameters were targeted in the breeding programmes in Samoa and PNG and accessions have been selected for high yield, resistance to TLB, eating quality and stability across different agro- ecological conditions. Also in both provinces farmer selections were mostly based on corm size (yield), corm shape and growth form; and most importantly eating quality. In both provinces farmers decided to keep all varieties for their own use and discarded varieties based on their preferences. However, according to their agro- ecological conditions, Murukanam farmers (seasonal dry season) were also selecting for accessions that showed some tolerance to low soil moisture conditions based on number of leaves on the plant, survival of the plants and quality of the corms. Some of the varieties had dried leaves but the corms did not rot and were considered good for drought because corms remained fresh in the soil for a longer period of time. At Derin (wet- site) a number of accessions were identified that were considered suitable for cultivation in swamps including some with lower yield performance under up- land cultivation. Given the response of the farmers to the trials and their participation in the trials implementation and selections, there are good prospects for farmers to adopt a range of new taro varieties from diverse genetic background into their farming system. However, besides agro- ecological conditions and farmer preferences, socio- economic settings of the communities also have a major influence on the conservation and maintenance of taro genetic resources. Murukanam and Derin represent communities that are at different stages of socio- economic development. Derin community maintains a very subsistence lifestyle and produce primarily for own consumption and rely on continuous supply from their food gardens for their food security. Hence, they have a keen interest to maintain a diversity of varieties as this enables them to make best use of their land resources including swamp areas and respond to other abiotic and biotic challenges. 103

104 At Murukanam on the other hand, farmers are more engaged with cash cropping such as coconuts and cocoa that leads to increased demand for the land traditionally used for shifting cultivation of food crops with time disparity between cash crops and food crops. Also sale and marketing of betelnut is high in the community that often great gender inequality where women garden for food and other produce while the men await betelnut buyers. Some of the participating farmers were more interested in accessing new taro varieties that will give them an advantage in local marketing due to their limited inputs as the local varieties are vulnerable to pest and disease and cannot adapt to environmental and climatic changes (Lebot 2013). At this point, all farmers were reluctant to discard any of the tested varieties pending further evaluation and it will require follow- up assessments to determine how many accessions farmers eventually decided to keep also considering their socio- economic setting. Other activities under WP8: Cyril Atung attended the Science and Technology conference held at UPNG from November 2014 and presented a paper Titled Diversification in Farmers field for Climate Change Adaptation - Taro evaluation trials in Madang Province Cyril Atung, Birte Komolong Jeffrey Waki submitted his thesis for his MPhil in early December The thesis is titled: Investigating Gene Flow Between Wild and Cultivated Taros in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. Results from examiners are expected to come in early 2015 (see summary hereafter). INVESTIGATING GENE FLOW BETWEEN WILD AND CULTIVATED TAROS IN MOROBE PROVINCE, PAPUA NEW GUINEA Jeffrey Waki, NARI, Lae, Papua New Guinea SUMMARY Two complementary studies were undertaken to establish the occurrence of gene flow between wild type and cultivated populations of taro. The first study assessed the extent of pollen dispersal between wild type and cultivated taros. The second study involved genotyping to establish paternity and parentage of families generated from the first study. Fluorescent dye (blue and orange) powders were used as pollen analogues to simulate pollen dispersal patterns by the pollinating insects, which were mainly drosophilids (Drosophilela pisticola and D. stamenicola). Representative samples of stigmata (N=12) were taken from spatially distributed actively breeding females one day after the fluorescent dye powders were applied onto the stamen. The fluorescent dye particles were successfully traced to ten maternal parents, five each of wild type and cultivated taros. The dispersal of the pollen analogues ranged from 10m (with a pollen analogue intensity of 83.3%) to as far as 46m where a pollen analogue intensity of 8.3% was recorded. The dispersal pattern followed a leptokurtic distribution where the intensity of the pollen analogue diminished with distance. This study demonstrated possible pollen dispersal between the wild and cultivated taro populations, and plausibly a pathway for gene flow between them. The maternal parents positively identified as having the pollen analogues on their sampled florets, and the putative pollen donors, together with their progenies were subjected to parentage and paternity testing for authentication. Six polymorphic microsatellites markers were used to genotype all individuals in the four families that had complete data sets. The finalized data sets were computed in CERVUS (version 3.0.7) where the log of the odds ratio or likelihood ratio (LOD) scores were calculated for each data set to assign paternity and parentage. The analysis performed on the data sets, however, did not assign paternity and even maternity at 95% confidence interval. These results may be attributed to the observed low levels of polymorphism generated by the microsatellite markers, together with the low number of pollen donors used in the study. Futures studies should increase the number of candidate pollen donors, besides using markers and markers systems such as Inter Sequence Simple Repeats (ISSR) markers that have higher levels of polymorphism. 104

105 Diversification in Farmers field for Climate Change Adaptation - Taro evaluation trials in Madang Province Presented at the Conference Promoting responsible sustainable development through Science and Technology, November 2014, University of Papua New Guinea, Port Moresby Cyril Atung and Birte Komolong PNG National Agriculture Research Institute, Lae Abstract Taro (Colocasia esculenta) is an important tuber crop in Papua New Guinea that is underutilized for its effect to mitigate climate change. A study was carried out in two different communities in Madang Province to evaluate thirty new taro varieties from the Secretariat of the South Pacific Community (SPC) for PNG farmers to adopt and improve their taro diversity on farm to become more resilient to climate change impacts. The study was conducted in farmer s field in two locations in Madang Province, covering areas vulnerable to climate change effects namely Derin in the Transgogol area of the Madang District and Murukanam in the Sumgilbar area of the Sumkar District. The experiment was laid out in an augmented design with unreplicated treatments. Trials were planted in November 2013 before the onset of rains. Data collected on consumer preferences included yield, taste, aroma, acridity and texture. There were differences in yield with variety C5-353 yielding the highest in both trial sites followed by BL/SM/148,143,319/41, BL/SM/151, BL/SM/43,BL/SM/80,BL/SM/157, 136, and Hawaiian Line BL/HW/37 respectively across locations. Farmers preferences for the introduce varieties were comparable to those of the local varieties. Varieties Indonesian line (CE/IND/14), Hawaiian line (BL/HW/26, Malaysian line (CE/MAL/07), and local variety Lanis had low yields in both community trials. PNG lines and Samoan lines were most preferred for taste and consumption followed by Malaysia and Indonesia lines and the local checks. The 24 drought tolerant varieties were identified and made available to farmers and can also be used for drought prone areas in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific. Keywords: Colocasia esculenta, climate change, mitigate, resilient, varieties, Murukanam, Derin, Transgogol Introduction Taro (Colocasia esculenta) is an important root crop in Papua New Guinea (PNG) that is underutilised for its significance to mitigate climate change effects. In Papua New Guinea, it is the fourth most important food crop consumed in the country and contributes significantly to the well being of rural household with strong cultural value in nine different provinces of the country, (Bourke and Harwood, 2009, Yalu et al., 2009). Taro is part of many traditional mixed cropping systems contributing to household food security but increasing pressures from pest and diseases especially Taro leaf blight (Phytophthora colocasiae) and Taro beetle (Papuana spp.) (Lal, 2008, Bourke and Harwood, 2009), commercial changes and effects of Climate Change are affecting the diversity of taro varieties grown by rural communities. There is a limited effort on record in PNG and elsewhere to control the genetic and erosion taking place on- farm and rigorously affecting the provisions of local taro varieties. Recent surveys by NARI have shown that the taro genetic base in the communities has become quite narrow with farmers only maintaining 2-4 favourite varieties which are low yielding and highly susceptible to pest and diseases. Adapting to and mitigating the effects of climate change is a challenge that farmers in rural communities are facing in recent times with far reaching impacts on farming systems and taro varieties grown. Diversified farming systems incorporating different crops and crop varieties are important for food security in the communities, 105

106 mitigating risks, and to build resilience against the climatic changes and variability (Bioversity International 2013, APN, 2010, FAO, 2008, Hue- Lin Lee, 2009). In the wake of effects of climate change on food security, NARI is collaborating with the Secretariat of the South Pacific Community (SPC) under the initiative of the International Network of Edible Aroids (INEA) to increase the diversity of taro in farmer fields to increase the capacity of rural community s to adapt to climate change. The project is funded by European Union under the theme Adapting clonally propagated crops to climatic and commercial challenges and involves a series of participatory evaluation trials of a diverse set of taro varieties sourced from international and national collections and breeding programmes in a number of pilot sites in the country to identify farmer preferred accession for their further use in diversifying their range of taro varieties to adapt to climate change impacts. This paper reports about the trials at two sites in Madang Province. Methodology Site establishment In November 2013, eight on- farm trials were established in two different communities (Derin and Murukanam) in Madang Province with different agro- climatic conditions. The trials were harvested in early June a) Trial locations Derin: The trials established in Derin in Transgogol, Madang district is on a flood plain and dense forest area. Annual rainfall is >2800 mm/year. At Derin (wetland trial) five trials were initially planted at different sub- sites (Kumulung Village, Derin Village, Kohur Village, and Hainer Village). Murukanam: Murukanam is located at the North coast of Madang on the border of Bogia and Sumkar districts. Annual rainfall is <2800 mm/year and quite seasonal with lowest rainfalls between June and September. For Murukanam (dryland) trial, three trials were planted, two close to the coastal villages of (Sarman, and Sabente) and one trial located further inland at Eranduk Village (approx 225 m.a.s.l). The pilot sites were identify through a crop diversity focused Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) in 2013 with community members and their ward councillors to learn more about taro diversity on farm and taro production constraints, perceptions and criteria important in the selection and adoption of a cultivar. The participatory rural appraisal procedures include focus group discussions, (FGD), farmer interviews, farm visits and ranking of varieties facilitated by research and extension officers. After the establishment of the trials, it was up to each farmer to identify their preferred cultivars which were most suitable for their environment. During harvest farmers and interested farmers were given the chance to visit other farmers plots to compare yields and make selections for their environment. b) Trial design The accessions were selected previously from a preliminary on- station evaluation of 50 accessions from international collections supplied by CePaCT, accessions from the PNG National Taro Germplasm Collections and breeding lines from the NARI Taro breeding programme. Table 1 shows the list of accessions and origin of the 30 genotypes tested in the on- farm trials. Table Taro genotypes and their origin used in on- farm trials in Derin and Murukanam, Madang Province Cultivar BL/HW/05, BL/HW/26, BL/HW/37 BL/SM/43, BL/SM/80, BL/SM/104, BL/SM/111, BL/SM/115, BL/SM/116, BL/SM/120, BL/SM/128, BL/SM/132, BL/SM/136, Orign Hawaiin breeding line (CePaCT) Samoan breeding line (CePaCT) 106

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108 b) Corm Yield and eating quality assessment Corm yield estimates were made following harvest at 6 months for each five data plant and the yield weights per corm were recorded (grams) and converted to tonnes per hectare. After harvest 2 3 corm samples ( grams) were collected from each genotype for eating quality test. The corms were peeled and sliced into approximately grams pieces (removing all tissue surrounding the ground tissue) and bagged into cut onion bags and boiled in excess water for minutes or until cooked. At both sites a panel of community members. The assessment was done suing the following traits shown and their factors, each trait was score1-3, (1 - <2= unacceptable, 2-3 = good, >3 = excellent). The final rating was calculated by multiplying the constant factor value with the actual score for each trait (Singh et al. 2001). Trait Weight factor Trait Weight factor Texture 0.5 Aroma 0.1 Acridity 0.3 Flesh colour 0.1 c) Statistical Analysis The analysis for TLB, yield, and eating quality was done using simple MS excel pivot tables to select for the farmers preferred and selected varieties for their condition. The yield, the selection criteria farmers used was to selected for bigger better sized and good corm shape while the eating quality, farmers used strong, hardy texture, soft texture with no acridity presence, colour of flesh and aroma (smell) of cooked corms and rated each of this traits according to the above mentioned weight factor. Varieties with some degree of acridity presents were considered for swamp cultivation under Derin condition while under Murukanam climatic condition, farmer select for drought tolerant was based on number of leaves present and no corm rot through censory evaluation on- farm using visual observation. Results a) Derin Table 3 shows the mean yield of the best (10) varieties (10) out of the 34 varieties that performed exceptionally higher than the standard mean (8.0 t/ha) in terms of yield and eating quality (EQS). The highest yielding varieties were PNG advance breeding line C5-353, 319/41 from PNG core collections, followed by Samoan breeding lines BL/SM/148,151,80,136,43,143,157 and Hawaiian clone BL/HW/37. The lowest yielding varieties were CE/IND/16, Numkowe, BL/HW/26, CE/IND/14 and the local variety Lanis. In terms of eating quality, all 26 varieties of the exotic varieties and 4 local varieties including breeding lines (Total of 30 lines) were evaluated through blind panel taste test against four local check varieties. Table 3 results show 13 varieties rated as excellent by the farmers indicating their acceptability, 10 were rated as good which included varieties such as NT02, CE/IND/16, BL/SM/104 and 111 that had some degree of acridity. Seven varieties were rated as unacceptable and found to be very irritating by the panel includes highest yielding varieties 319/41, BL/SM/157, 152,120,116, BL/HW/05 and Malaysian line CE/MAL/07 (data not presented). The taro leaf blight rating was low across all trials except for 319/41 which was observed to be susceptible (Table 3). Table 3. The mean TLB ratings, eating quality and yield (t/ha) of best 10 out of 34 taro varieties under Derin community trials. Cultivar TLB (%) EQ Score Yield (t/ha) Farmers decisions C months variety, very high yielding 108

109 BL/SM/ highly rated by farmers for corm shape, yield and growth form 319/ Good yield and corm shape but poor eating quality cooked BL/SM/ not selected by farmers BL/SM/ selected BL/SM/ selected BL/SM/ selected C selected BL/HW/ not producing suckers, considered for swamp cultivation BL/SM/ corm flesh colour but poor eating quality TLB- Taro leaf blight, EQS - Eating Quality Score: 1 =unacceptable, 2 =good and 3 = excellent Table 4. The mean TLB rating, eating quality and yield (t/ha) of best 10 out of 34 taro varieties under Murukanam community trials Cultivar TLB EQ Drought Yield Farmers Decision (%) score (t/ha) C T months variety, drought resistant and TLB resistant, high yield BL/SM/ T 18.4 not producing suckers, and selected for drought, high yielding 319/ T 17.3 selected for drought, poor eating quality BL/SM/ T 16.1 selected for drought, high yield, BL/SM/ T 15.5 selected for drought, acridity present BL/HW/ ST 15 not producing suckers, selected based on yield performance BL/SM/ T 14.9 highly rated by farmers for corm shape and size uniformity, yield and growth form KPOSN T 14.5 selected for drought BL/SM/ T 14.5 not selected by farmers, but good for drought prune areas BL/SM/ T 14.5 selected drought T- Tolerant, ST- slighlt tolerant, S- Susceptable, SS- slightly susceptible, HS- higly susceptible, Eating quality score (EQS) score: 1 =unacceptable, 2 =good and 3 = excellent b) Murukanam Table 4 results indicated that the top varieties (10) performed better than the standard mean (10.9 t/ha) in terms of yield, 24 varieties showed some potential to withstand the dry conditions experienced during the trial period. The assessment was done using visual observations on the number fresh leaves present on the variety and visual assessment of the corm for any signs of rotting. The varieties with leaves present or without leaves but corms not rotten were classed as slightly tolerant to tolerant meaning that they can grow and produce yield under dry condition while those classed as slightly susceptible, susceptible and highly susceptible were visual assessed to be not producing leaves and had signs of corm damage or rotten. But this needs further evaluation to 109

110 confirm. The best performing varieties were PNG advance breeding lines C5-353,319/41 from PNG core collections, BL/SM/143, 43,157,148 and Hawaiian line BL/HW/37. The results were similar to the Derin trial. The lowest yielding varieties were BL/SM/120, CE/IND/14, BL/SM/158, Lanis and BL/HW/26 which was almost the same lowest ranking varieties observed in Derin trials (Table 3 & 4). The eating quality assessment (data not presented) shows 15 varieties were rated excellent, mostly from Samoan breeding lines, PNG breeding lines and the local variety Lanis. The rest of the varieties were rated as good while the Hawaiian line BL/HW/05 was rated as unacceptable which was similar to Derin trials (data not presented). Discussion There was generally a positive response from farmers participating in the trials. Farmers were keen to evaluate and access new germplasm for diversification of their systems. Similar observation were reported by Lebot (2013) that new food crop species had positive impact on the agro- ecosystems and widely adopted with its cultivation spreading to all islands, even the remote areas and replacing traditional cultivars. The results from this study showed that the best performing accessions were the introduced Samoan breeding lines and PNG advance breeding line C5 in terms of yield, TLB and eating quality; and this was similar across the two agro- ecological zones. These results are not unexpected as the parameters were targeted in the breeding programmes in Samoa and PNG and accessions have been selected for high yield, resistance to TLB, eating quality and stability across different agro- ecological conditions. Also in both sites, farmer selections were mostly based on corm size (yield), corm shape and growth form; and most importantly Eating Quality.In both sites farmers decided to keep all varieties for their own use and discarded varieties based on their preferences. However, according to their agro- ecological conditions, Murukanam farmers (seasonal dry season) were also selecting for accessions that showed some tolerance to low soil moisture conditions based on number of leaves on the plant, survival of the plants and quality of the corms. Some of the varieties had dried leaves but the corms did not rot and were considered good for drought because corms remained fresh in the soil for a longer period of time. At Derin (wet- site) a number of accessions were identified that were considered suitable for cultivation in swamps including some with lower yield performance under up- land cultivation. Given the response of the farmers to the trials and their participation in the trials implementation and selections, there are good prospects for farmers to adopt a range of new taro varieties from diverse genetic background into their farming system. However, besides agro- ecological conditions and farmer preferences, socio- economic settings of the communities also have a major influence on the conservation and maintenance of taro genetic resources. Murukanam and Derin represent communities that are at different stages of socio- economic development. Derin community maintains a very subsistence lifestyle and produce primarily for own consumption and rely on continuous supply from their food gardens for their food security. Hence, they have a keen interest to maintain a diversity of varieties as this enables them to make best use of their land resources including swamp areas and respond to other abiotic and biotic challenges. At Murukanam on the other hand, farmers are more engaged with cash cropping such as coconuts and cocoa that leads to increased demand for the land traditionally used for shifting cultivation of food crops with time disparity between cash crops and food crops. Also sale and marketing of betelnut is high in the community that often great gender inequality where women garden for food and other produce while the men await betelnut buyers. Some of the participating farmers were more interested in accessing new taro varieties that will give them an advantage in local marketing due to their limited inputs as the local varieties are vulnerable to pest and disease and cannot adapt to environmental and climatic changes (Lebot 2013). At this point, all farmers were reluctant to discard any of the tested varieties pending further evaluation and it will require follow- up assessments to determine how many accessions farmers eventually decided to keep also considering their socio- economic setting. 110

111 Conclusion The study was able to determine the different varieties that are suitable for each location. The farmers were able to choose which of the introduced varieties were suited for their needs. The presence of these varieties had widened farmers collection and will diversify their farming system. Advance breeding line C5-35 from PNG performed consistently in both sites with taste, resistant to blight and drought with Samoan line BL/SM/148 and 143.The 24 accessions showing better performance under low soil moisture conditions can be further tested to identify suitable varieties for soil deficit conditions in Papua New Guinea. There is good prospect that farmers will diversify their farming system with the new varieties and increase diversity of taro in their gardens to aid them during the challenges posed by changing climatic conditions because taro production is an integral aspects of the farming system in Derin and Murukanam and will continue to be present as source of food, feed and income. Acknowledgement The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the European Union for this study and thank the participating communities, Derin in the Transgogol Local Level Government of Madang District and the Murukanam in the Sumkilbar Local Level Government of the Sumkar District and the Rural Development officers (RDO) for collaborating in this project, with dedication and enthusiasm. We also acknowledge Mr Philip Lali, Mr James Tarabu, Chesly Kobua (Cadet Scientist) for assisting in planting, data collection and field observations. References APN Final Report for APN Project - Project Reference: ARCP NSY- Freeman: Impact of Climate Change on Food Security and Biosecurity of Crop Production Systems in Small Pacific Nation Bioversity International., Realizing the promise of neglected and underutilized species. Policy Brief Third International Conference on Neglected and Underutilized Species Accra, Ghana Bourke, R.M. and Harwood, T. (eds) Food and Agriculture in Papua New Guinea. ANU E Press, The Australian National University, Canberra. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Climate Change and Food Security in Pacific Island Countries.10/4/2011,Availablefrom: cce0e70d2d38e1e273.pdf Gollifer, D. and Brown E Phytophthora leaf blight of Colocasia esculenta. PNG. J Agric For Fish 25:6 11. Huey- Lin, L The impact of climate change on global food supply and demand, food prices, and land use. Paddy Water Environ 7: Hunter, D. and Pouono, K Evaluation of exotic taro cultivars for resistance to taro leaf blight, yield and quality in Samoa. J South Pac Agric 5: Lal, S. (eds) Taro Beetle Management in Papua New Guinea and Fiji Final Project Reports. ACIAR PROJECT NUMBER CS2/2000/044). Secretariat of the Pacific Community. New Caledonia. Lebot V Coping with insularity: the need for crop genetic improvement to strengthen adaptation to climatic change and food security in the Pacific. Environ Dev Sustain 15: Singh, D. Hunter, D. Iosefa, T. Delp, C.J. Font, P. Okpul, T Guidelines for Undertaking On- Farm Taro Breeding Trials in the South Pacific. AusAID/SPC Taro Genetic Resources: Conservation and Utilization, SPC, Fiji. Yalu, A. Singh, D. Yadav. SS Taro Improvement and Development in Papua New Guinea - A Success Story. APAARI, Bangkok, Thailand. 111

112 2.14. Vanuatu Floriane Lawac and Roger Malapa, VARTC, Santo, Vanuatu The International Network of Edible Aroids (INEA) is a consortium of scientists and farmers working together on crop species of Colocasia spp. and Xanthosoma spp. towards Adapting Clonally Propagated Crops to Climatic and Commercial Changes. The INEA Project was implemented at the Vanuatu Agricultural Research and Technical Centre (VARTC) since January Two main activities were undertaken in 2013 and 2014 including: Breeding activities on- station focused on the evaluation of siblings population of Colocasia esculenta and Xanthosoma sagittifolium. While the breeding of C. esculenta is part of CIRAD s program activity in Vanuatu and includes also molecular tagging and genetic mapping in Montpellier- France, the breeding of X. sagittifolium is undertaken by VARTC. On station preliminary screening of 50 exotic accessions of C. esculenta introduced by CePaCT for evaluation and selection of a core set of climate ready accessions (tolerance to drought, to heavy rain fall and disease) to be introduced on- farm for a participative varietal selection. This report focuses on on- station activities conducted on 49 preselected progenies of X. sagittifolium and 50 exotic accessions of C. esculenta distributed by CePaCT. Breeding of X. sagittifolium In 2010, nine families composed of 230 progenies of taro Fiji have been obtained from crossings between seven local cultivars collected around the archipelago. These progenies are to be selected in different trials including observational trial, advanced trial, on- farm trial and confirmation trial before any release of promising varieties. In 2011, observational trial conducted as a preliminary screening of C1 progenies (n=230) led to the selection of a subset of 154 progenies. The selection was based on yield (high), cormel s shape (compact) and number per plant (average to high), the number of suckers per plant (nil to low), plant height (average) and dry matter content (average). Parents and cultivars of the collection (n=10) were also included in the observational trial for comparison and selection purposes. Average yield components per parent and progeny populations are quite similar between the two populations in terms of number of cormel and yield per plant (table1). Average size of the cormel appears to be smaller among the progenies (0.2 kg/cormel) which produce a higher number of cormel per plant with a maximum of 24 cormels/plant. Table 1. Yield average of the cultivars (n=10x25) and the C1 progenies (n=230x1) in 2011 Parents Hybrids Cormel/plt Weight (kg/cormel) Yield (kg/plt) Cormel/plt Weight (kg/cormel) Yield (kg/plt) Aver Min Max Stdev In 2012, advanced trials were conducted on- station to evaluate the subset of 154 progenies at C2 using additional criteria including plant eight, number of sucker per plant. Chemical composition of the cormel was also analyzed for dry matter, ashes, proteins, starches, celluloses and total sugars for the parents (n=7) including the progenies (n=136). Forty nine (49) progenies were selected out of 112

113 154. Overall, 68% of the progenies are eliminated at this stage and 32% retained for the next steps of selection. In 2013 and 2014, two trials were conducted to evaluate the performance of the progenies during the rainy and the dry seasons to select for the adaptability and resilience to climatic change in conditions of drought and high soil moisture content. Performances are evaluated in terms of yield and fitness on heavy clay soil and coral limestone soil. Results are discussed in the following paragraphs. Advanced trials at C3 and C4 Evaluation of progenies at C3 and C4 In 2013, long heavy rainy season with flooding from January to March as well as a dry spell from July to September have provided ideal conditions to evaluate the adaptability and resilience of each progeny to climate change. This was also the case in early 2014 when a dry spell affected the early growth phase of the newly field established plantlets from December to February Forty nine clones of taro Fiji have been evaluated in 2013 on heavy clay using 13 replications per clone using 1 meter spacing between plant and 1 meter between lines. In 2014, the same dispositive was re- established for a second round of evaluation at C4. Plant growth was severely affected by the dry spell during the early phase of establishment thus delaying the maturity and harvest period to November Adaptability and resilience for each individual are evaluated in terms of production components (number of sucker per plant, number of corm, mean weight per corm, yield per plant) as well as survival rate (number o dead plant/total plant). Selection of the advanced clones is also based on the organoleptic properties of the cooked cormel which has been evaluated in 2014 upon harvest. Comparison of parents vs. progenies performances Table 2 provides the characteristics and performance of the parents and the progenies in 2013 and For comparison purposes, the average performance of the C2 progenies (n=154) obtained in 2012 is also provided. Flooding and drought of 2013 and 2014 appear to affect slightly the performance of the parents which produce in average similar yield ( kg/plant) and number of cormels ( cormel/plant) in both years consecutively. Similarly, the survival rate is high (90%) and constant for both years. The progenies (n=49) are somehow more affected especially in 2014 as indicated by the lower number of cormel/plant ( (0-6.6)) and a lower survival of (70%) as compare to Table 2. Performances of the parents and the successive subpopulations of progenies selected from 2012 to 2014 Populations Year Sucker/plt Cormel/plt Mean weight cormel (kg) Mean yield (kg/plt) Survival rate Parents (n=7) 2013 nd ( ) ( ) ( ) (0.7-1) Parents (n=7) (0-1.5) ( ) ( ) ( ) (0.6-1) Progenies C2 (n=154) (0-12) (1-25) (0-0.5) ( ) nd Progenies C3 (n=49) 2013 nd ( ) (0-0.7) (0-1.2) (0.4-1) Progenies C4 (n=49) (0-1) (0-6.6) (0-0.3) (0-1.4) (0.1-1) Selection C3 (n=10) 2013 nd ( ) ( ) ( ) (0.7-1) Selection C4 (n=10) (0-0.8) ( ) ( ) ( ) (0.5-1) 113

114 Selection of progenies at C3 and C4 Ten (10) promising clones were selected based on their average combined performance in 2013 and The selective criteria include mainly high yield, marketable weigh and shape of cormel, a low number of sucker and high survival rate as well as the organoleptic properties of the cormels especially the taste. Overall, the selection conducted from 2012 to 2014 has eliminated 96% of the progenies characterized by high number of suckers per plant as well as a high number of cormels/plant and low survival rate (cf. table 2). In average, the remaining 4% performances are slightly higher than the parents for the period Most of the selected progenies appear to produce white flesh cormel with sweet taste and a soft and firm texture. Table 3. Average performance of 10 selected varieties of X. sagittifollium (aver. of 2013 and 2014) Progenies Parents ( x ) Suckers Cormel per Weight Yield Cooked flesh per plt plt (kg/corm) (kg/plt) color Taste Consistence Resilience Hyb 099 X7 x X pinkish white sweet hard and firm 1.0 Hyb 111 X7 x X white nd nd 0.7 Hyb 174 X3 x X white sweet soft and firm 1.0 Hyb 179 X9 x X pinkish white none hard 0.6 Hyb 180 X9 x X pinkish white sweet soft and firm 1.0 Hyb 206 nd white sweet soft and firm 0.8 Hyb 208 X9 x X white sweet soft and firm 0.8 Hyb 209 X9 x X pink sweet soft and firm 1.0 Hyb 213 X9 x X white sweet soft and firm 1.0 Hyb 217 X9 x X white sweet soft and firm 1.0 Selection of elite parents for national breeding program Female and male sterility in X. sagittifollium Though 10 cultivars of the collection have been used in different crossing combination in 2010, only crosses involving seven cultivars appear to be successful in terms of fruit production and seeds viability. These cultivars include Xs1, Xs3, Xs5, Xs6, Xs7, Xs9 and Xs10 (table 4). Table 4. Progenies obtained and selected per family or crosses respectively in 2011 (C1) and in 2014 (C4) Families ( x ) Type of crossing C1- Progenies (2011) C4- progenies (2014) Xs3xXs1 Cross pollination 14 0 Xs3xXx9 Cross pollination 3 0 Xs3xXs10 Cross pollination 35 1 (3%) Xs5xXs6 Cross pollination 88 0 Xs6xXs6 Self pollination 6 0 Xs7xXs1 Cross pollination 37 2 (5%) Xs7xXs7 Self pollination 2 0 Xs9xXs1 Cross pollination 14 4 (29%) Xs9xXs7 Cross pollination 19 2 (10%) Non determined Non determined 12 1 (8%) Total (4%) 114

115 The remaining cultivars are less successfully used either because of the inexistence of pollen production (Xs4, Xs5 and Xs8) or their incapacity to develop fruits (Xs1, Xs2, Xs4, Xs8 and Xs10). Pollen grain studies revealed that cultivars like Xs1, Xs2 and Xs10 that produced only fertile dyads pollen type cannot develop fruits or viable seeds when pollinated. Though cultivars that produce very few pollen do exist (Xs4, Xs5 and Xs8), crossings demonstrate that they can be female receptive and can be used as maternal plant. Self pollination of in X. sagtitifolium also yields very few seeds as revealed by the low number of progenies obtained for Xs6 and Xs7. Progenies are also weak are often died out. Selection of elite parents through their progenies Table 5 outlines the average performance per family obtained in the trials in 2013 and Higher yields (>0.9 kg/plant) are obtained among the Xs9xXs1 and Xs9xXs7 progenies. All these 10 varieties stemmed from crosses involving mainly Xs9 as female parent and Xs1 as a male parent. Furthermore, 60% of the promising clones involve Xs9 as the mother plant and Xs1 as pollen donor. Table 5. Average performance per progenies for the year 2013 and 2014 Crosses ( x ) Progenies Suckers per plt Cormel plt per Weight (kg/corm) Yield (kg/plt) Xs3 x Xs10 n= Xs7 x Xs1 n= Xs9 x Xs1 n= Xs9 x Xs7 n= Resilience When combining the average performance of the seven parents for 2013 and 2014, table 6 indicates that Xs9, Xs7 and Xs1 are high performing cultivars in terms of number and mean weight of cormel as well as yield. Thus selecting the elite progenies leads indirectly to select also for the parents according to their proper values if crosses are controlled. Table 6. Average performance per parent for the year 2013 and 2014 Parents Suckers per plt Cormel per plt Weight (kg/corm) Yield (kg/plt) Resilience Xs1 nd Xs3 nd Xs5 nd Xs6 nd Xs7 nd Xs9 nd Xs10 nd Activity two: preliminary evaluation of the exotic accessions Prior to 2013, several accessions from the TANSAO collection have already been introduced and distributed into the farmers field under the Agrobiodiversity project ( ). Farmers are already aware about morphological characteristics and agronomical performance of these exotic planting materials which include mostly asian and southeast asian accessions. Participative varietal selection has been conducted and farmers have already selected the varieties of their choice. 115

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117 Table 2. Taro corm eating quality (n=47) AccCode Taste quality 24 sm 13 very good 1 hw 08 poor 25 sm 132 very good 2 hw 12 acceptable 26 sm 135 excellent 3 hw 26 good 27 sm 136 excellent 4 hw 37 excellent 28 sm 138 excellent 5 ind 06 poor 29 sm 143 excellent 6 ind 14 poor 30 sm 148 excellent 7 ind 16 good 31 sm 149 excellent 8 ind 19 acceptable 32 sm 151 excellent 9 ind 24 good 33 sm 152 good 10 ind 31 acceptable 34 sm 157 poor 11 ind 32 acceptable 35 sm 158 excellent 12 jp 06 very good 36 sm 43 excellent 13 jp 2 poor 37 sm 46 excellent 14 mal 07 very good 38 sm 80 poor 15 mal 11 acceptable 39 sm 97 very good 16 mal 12 poor 40 tha 15 good 17 mal 14 good 41 tha 2 good 18 png 10 acceptable 42 tha 24 very good 19 png 11 very good 43 tha 4 excellent 20 sm 111 poor 44 tha 5 good 21 sm 116 acceptable 45 tha 7 acceptable 22 sm 120 excellent 46 tha 8 excellent 23 sm 128 excellent 47 tha 9 poor Selection of a climate ready core set (n=24) 24 accessions are selected throughout the Preliminary screenings for extreme weather condition conducted on With the second evaluation activity which is organoleptic screening, most of the accessions included in this set of 24 have good agronomical performance and good quality taste: excellent (n=10), very good (n=5), good (n=4), acceptable (n=2) and poor (n=3). The set of 24 accessions are presented in table 3. Table 3. Climate ready core collection (n=24) CEPACT Accessions Shape Flesh color Taste quality 1 hw 26 Round Pink good 2 hw 37 Elliptical White + pink excellent 3 ind 16 Elliptical Orange good 4 png 10 Elliptical White acceptable 5 png 11 Elliptical Yellow very good 6 sm 111 Cylindrical White poor 7 sm 116 Elliptical White acceptable 8 sm 120 Elliptical White + pink excellent 9 sm 13 Round Pink very good 10 sm 132 Round White very good 11 sm 135 Elliptical pink excellent 12 sm 136 Cylindrical White + pink excellent 13 sm 138 Cylindrical White excellent 14 sm 149 Elliptical White + Yellow excellent 15 sm 151 Cylindrical White excellent 16 sm 158 Round Yellow excellent 17 sm 43 Dumb- bell White + pink excellent 18 sm 46 Elliptical White + pink excellent 19 sm 80 Conical Pink poor 117

118 20 sm 97 Round White very good 21 tha 15 Elliptical White good 22 tha 2 Elliptical White good 23 tha 24 Conical White very good 24 hw 08 Conical White poor Comparison with exotic vs local varieties The climate ready core sample is compared to four (4) local varieties that were selected as check varieties, namely Samsin red hand, Tsinon, Pora lo Mapuro and Peta ni bankis (table 4). Results show that SM 13 and SM 138 are nearly good as the 4 check varieties in term of maturity, corm shape and taste. However such results are not decisive since farmers have their own taste and choice. Table 4. List of the check varieties (n= 4) ACC. CODE LOCAL NAME ISLAND GROWING CONDITION MATURITY CORM SHAPE FLESH COLOR EATING QUALITY vu 037 Samsin red hand Pentecost Dryland Early Conical Pink Very good vu 142 Tsinon Santo Dryland Early Elliptical White Excellent vu 202 Pora lo mapuro Santo Dryland Early Elliptical Pink Excellent vu 105 Peta ni bankis Santo Dryland Late Elliptical White Excellent Tentative ranking of the 28 best (introduced and local combined) for distribution Based on the Morpho- agronomical characters the introduced and local cultivars have been ranked as shown in table 5. Table 5. Tentative ranking of the 28 best exotic and local varieties Rank Accession code Shape Flesh color Taste quality 1 sm 13 round Pink very good 2 sm 138 elliptical white excellent 3 png 11 cylindrical yellow very good 4 sm 149 cylindrical white + yellow excellent 5 sm 46 cylindrical white + pink excellent 6 sm 80 conical Pink poor 7 sm 151 elliptical white excellent 8 Samsin red hand conical Pink very good 9 hw 37 cylindrical white + pink excellent 10 ind 16 cylindrical Orange good 11 peta ni bankis elliptical white excellent 12 sm 120 cylindrical white + pink excellent 13 sm 132 round white very good 14 tsinon elliptical white excellent 15 pora lo mapuro elliptical Pink excellent 16 sm 135 cylindrical Pink excellent 17 sm 97 round white very good 18 sm 116 cylindrical white acceptable 19 sm 158 round yellow excellent 20 png 10 cylindrical white acceptable 21 hw 26 round Pink good 22 sm 111 elliptical white poor 23 sm 136 elliptical white + pink excellent 24 sm 43 dumb- bell white + pink excellent 25 hw 08 conical white poor 26 tha 2 cylindrical white good 27 tha 15 cylindrical white good 28 tha 24 conical white very good 118

119 Conclusion and perspectives X. sagittifolium: In 2015, the clones selected in the advanced trial will be multiplied and distributed for a Participative Varietal Selection (On farm trial). Only one to two promising varieties will be selected for the Confirmation trial before release of elite cultivars. Selected parents as well as promising progenies can also be used in further breeding with exotic varieties to broaden the genetic basis of X. sagittifolium in Vanuatu and one of the interesting traits to look for is resistance to pythium spp. C. esculenta: the on station trial has allowed us to have a provisional selection of the best 28 accessions with 4 check varieties and 24 selected accessions resilient to climate change. This tentative ranking is unlikely to be considered because the taros have been through a drought period on November 2013 January 2014 which affected their development and their agronomical performance. The On farm trial will be established in We will multiply the 24 selected varieties. We will loocking for potential sites for Participative Varietal Selection of 10 promising varieties. For on farm conservation, the distribution of 24 exotic varieties will be under the World Bank Project Framework. Table 6. Number of clones per variety CEPACT ACCESSIONS NUMBER OF PLANTS CEPACT ACCESSIONS NUMBER OF PLANTS 1 BL/HW/ BL/SM/ BL/HW/ BL/SM/ BL/HW/ BL/SM/ BL/HW/ BL/SM/ CE/IND/ BL/SM/ CE/IND/12-31 BL/SM/ CE/IND/ BL/SM/ CE/IND/ BL/SM/ CE/IND/ BL/SM/ CE/IND/ BL/SM/ CE/IND/26-36 BL/SM/ CE/IND/ BL/SM/ CE/IND/ BL/SM/ CA/JP/01-39 BL/SM/ CA/JP/ BL/SM/ CA/JP/ BL/SM/ CE/MAL/ BL/SM/ CE/MAL/ CE/THA/ CE/MAL/ CE/THA/ CE/MAL/ CE/THA/ BL/PNG/ CE/THA/ BL/PNG/ CE/THA/ BL/SM/ CE/THA/ BL/SM/ CE/THA/ BL/SM/ CE/THA/

120 Table 7. Morphological characters per accession Accessions suckers(means) stolons(means) Leaves(means) Height(means) Lenght(means) Flowers(means) BL/SM BL/SM BL/SM BL/SM BL/SM BL/SM BL/SM BL/SM BL/SM BL/SM BL/SM BL/SM BL/SM BL/SM BL/SM BL/SM BL/SM BL/SM BL/SM BL/SM CE/IND CE/IND CE/IND CE/IND CE/IND CE/IND CE/IND CE/THA CE/THA CE/THA CE/THA CE/THA CE/THA CE/THA CE/MAL CE/MAL CE/MAL CE/MAL BL/HW BL/HW BL/HW BL/HW CE/THA CA/JP CA/JP 02 #DIV/0 #DIV/0 #DIV/0 #DIV/0 #DIV/0 #DIV/0 BL/PNG BL/PNG

121 Table 8. Corm characterization per accession AccCode Shape Cortex color Flesh color Fiber color Weight (g) BL/ HW08 conical White white yellow 283 BL/ HW12 conical Pink Pink pink 106 BL/ HW26 round Pink Pink pink 422 BL/ HW37 elliptical Pink White + Pink white + pink 834 BL/ SM- 111 cylindrical White White yellow 396 BL/ SM- 116 elliptical Pink White white 443 BL/ SM- 120 elliptical Pink White + Pink white + Pink 656 BL/ SM- 128 elliptical Pink White white 667 BL/ SM- 13 round Pink Pink pink 1140 BL/ SM- 132 round Pink White white 633 BL/ SM- 135 elliptical Pink Pink pink 488 BL/ SM- 136 cylindrical Pink White + Pink white + pink 355 BL/ SM- 138 cylindrical White White white 997 BL/ SM- 143 round Pink Pink pink 608 BL/ SM- 148 round Pink white white 610 BL/ SM- 149 elliptical Pink white + Yellow white + yellow 950 BL/ SM- 151 cylindrical White white yellow 864 BL/ SM- 152 conical Pink white white 225 BL/ SM- 157 round Pink Yellow yellow 368 BL/ SM- 158 round Pink Yellow yellow 438 BL/ SM- 43 dumb- bell Pink White + Pink white +pink 283 BL/ SM- 46 elliptical Pink White + Pink white + pink 894 BL/ SM- 80 conical Pink Pink pink 885 BL/ SM- 97 round White White yellow 484 Ce/ Ind 32 conical White White white 75 Ce/ Ind- 06 conical White Yellow yellow 131 Ce/ Ind- 14 conical White Yellow yellow 110 Ce/ Ind- 16 elliptical White Orange orange 774 Ce/ Ind- 19 round White White white 67 Ce/ Ind24 elliptical Pink White white 206 Ce/ Ind- 31 cylindrical Pink Pink pink 326 Ce/ Mal07 cylindrical Pink white white 193 Ce/ MAL11 branched head White white white 296 Ce/ MAL12 conical White Yellow yellow 428 Ce/ MAL14 elliptical White Yellow yellow 364 Ce/ THA05 conical White White purple 51 Ce/ THA07 conical White Yellow yellow 239 Ce/ THA08 branched White White purple 219 Ce/ THA09 conical White White white 98 Ce/ THA2 elliptical White White purple 235 Ce/ THA24 conical Pink white white 161 Ce/ THA4 elliptical White White purple 330 Ce/ THA5 elliptical White White white 180 JP02 elliptical White white white 67 JP06 round White white white 223 PNG10 elliptical White white yellow 428 PNG11 elliptical White Yellow yellow

122 2.15. SPC Valerie S.Tuia, Tolo Iosefa, Azaria Lesa- Ah Kau, Semi Cakaunitavuki, Logotonu Waqainabete WP 1.1 Project Management activities The SPC, Suva office continues to manage the project under the management of Mrs Valerie Saena Tuia, Genetic Resources Coordinator and Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees Manager based with the Land Resources Division in Suva Fiji. SPC regularly makes contacts with the Scientific Coordinator of the project, Vincent Lebot and Graham Jackson to ensure project is well managed and visibility of the project expanding on its wider coverage through distribution to different means ensuring the EU logo is highlighted. The financial responsibility of the project is now handled by Mrs Azaria Lesa- Ah Kau, the new Administration and Finance Adviser in the SPC LRD, replacing Mrs Sushil Narayan since October SPC went through a transitional period and more internal meetings occurred with much closer collaboration with partners on their financial report and acquittals, with the new changes brings very positive outcome. Periodic contacts amongst partners and members continue with transfer of the 2013 tranche by SPC to partners in December WP2: In vitro propagation of selected varieties for distribution to farmers ( ) SPC has effectively carried out distribution of 50 genotypes to all partners with good successful rates of plantlets establishment in the screenhouse and minimal contamination recorded. The project keeps on attracting new partners such as the plant breeder from the University of Hawaii enquiring to access material from the SPC after learning about the project. SPC has also established preliminary in vitro experiments to fine- tune current methods using normal tissue culture methods with the use of stagnant glass vessel versus the bioreactor system. The bioreactor system has been successful testing on breadfruit at SPC CePACT with 100% establishment of plantlets in the screenhouse and reduces field readiness of planting material by 3 months as compared to glass- treated plantlets. SPC aims to improve multiplication and field readiness of taro and xanthosoma using growth regulators (BAP and TDZ) combined with the use of liquid bioreactor for 8 weeks only. Table 1: Distribution of taro varieties to country partners in the South ( ) INEA COUNTRY Crop Varieties No Bags/Tubes No Plants Burkina Faso C.esculenta Costa Rica C.esculenta Cuba C.esculenta Ghana C.esculenta India C.esculenta Indonesia C.esculenta Kenya C.esculenta Madagascar C.esculenta Nicaragua C.esculenta Nigeria C.esculenta Philippines C.esculenta PNG C.esculenta South Africa C.esculenta Trinidad & Tobago C.esculenta Vanuatu C.esculenta countries 750 3,750 6,

123 Table 2: Distribution of varieties to support drought studies WP 5 INEA COUNTRY Crop Varieties No Bags/Tubes No Plants Portugal C.esculenta Table 3: Distribution of varieties to support virus studies WP 7 INEA COUNTRY Crop Varieties No Bags/Tubes No Plants Germany C.esculenta Xanthosoma sp Table 4: Distribution to non- partners due to impact of INEA work INEA COUNTRY Crop Varieties No Bags/Tubes No Plants Bangladesh C.esculenta Cameroon C.esculenta Congo C.esculenta Quadeloupe- France C.esculenta Haiti C.esculenta Mauritius C.esculenta In vitro propagation: SPC Plant Breeder, Tolo Iosefa is also supported with funds by the project and also contributing to the regional breeding programm based in Samoa. Mr Iosefa s PhD research is progressing well looking at screening cycle 8 taros for resistance to drought. About 8 taro lines selected from 94 clones identified to be tolerant and targeted for further screening to drought in the screen house. These 94 lines were selected for good taste and yield. Discussions with Professor Winter were ongoing on trialling our new ELISA tests and antisera by SPC virus indexing team. Amit Sukal has left for full time PhD studies in another project and both Semi Cakaunitavuki and Nikita Rao are virus technicians also competent to do the virus indexing work in collaboration with DSMZ. For Xanthosoma acquired from Nigeria will be also sprayed with GA in the SPC screenhouse in order to generate some pollen to be sent to Vanuatu to incorporate into the xanthosoma breeding program. SPC will also follow up on other countries (Cameroon, Mauritius, Bangladesh, Congo, Quadeloupe- France, Haiti and Mauritius). WP7: Virus detection and identification on seedlings from true taro seeds SPC received xanthosoma variety from Dr Joseph Onyeka of Nigeria for the project which is yellow fleshed and tolerant to pythium rot. The samples were replicated in tissue culture and virus tested at 3 to 6 months of crop growth in the post- entry quarantine screenhouse. Five replicates of the accession XS/NG/01 (NXS003) from Nigeria were all tested positive at 6 months to DsMV Dasheen mosaic virus, whilst negative to the three other viruses (TaBV Taro bacilliform virus, CBDV (Colocasia bobone disease virus) and TaVCV (Taro vein chlorosis virus). The variety is undergoing thermotherapy exposure to C to kill the viruses, meristem culture, then have plantlets transferred to the post entry quarantine for 3 to 6 months testing again. It is hoping that this time round, it will turn out negative. Discussions have been ongoing with Prof Stephan Winter, DSMZ for validating DSMZ antisera for DsMV and TaBV. This will use the Fiji taro collection at Koronivia Research station for such trials. Trials will be properly started in 2015, due to departure of Amit Sukal to undertake fulltime Phd studies. Mr Semi Cakaunitavuki and Ms Nikita Rao are the virus technicians that have been working with Mr Sukal on this work supported by Valerie S. Tuia in collaboration with DSMZ. Capacity building is also proposed for the SPC virus team by DSMZ together with PNG NARI. 123

124 Aims to improve micro- propagation and field readiness of aroids through use of bioreactor system Table 5: In vitro experiment for improved multiplication and readiness of aroids for field planting Stage T1 T2 T2 T3 T4 Media Type 1 MS MS+0.5mg/L MS+0.5mg/L MS+0.5mg/L MS+0.5mg/L Solid (glass) TDZ TDZ TDZ TDZ 2 MS MS + 2.5mg/L MS + 5mg/L MS + 10mg/L MS + 15mg/L Solid (glass) BAP BAP BAP BAP 3 MS MS MS MS MS Bioreactor (liquid) Two crops (taro and Xanthosoma), two varieties, 4 treatments plus a control, 8-10 replicates per treatment, 8 weeks duration. Ulamila Lutu and Valerie Saena- Tuia are in charge of this research. Breeding for drought tolerance: Mr Tolo Iosefa s research is progressing well on the Evaluation of selected cycle- 8 taro breeding population (F1&C1) with good yield and eating quality to drought tolerance. Table 6: An on- station screening of Cycle 8 seedlings according to full sibling families selected for seedling evaluation Parents family code total # reps in blocks total no no seedlings (plots of 30) seedlings/trial 7 Samoa- 1 x C7- BC C7- BC x C5-121 (Samoa- 2) Samoa- 1 x C7- BC C7- BC x TAN/MAL Samoa- 1 x TAN/MAL C7- BC x C7- BC C7- BC x C7- BC C7- BC x TAN/IND C7-047 x TAN/IND Samoa- 1 x C7-143B Samoa- 1 x C TOTAL History of parental lines: TAN/MAL- 142 = TANSAO line from Malaysia, collected from VARTC, Santo Vanuatu, 2011 TAN/MAL- 035 = TANSAO line from Malaysia, collected from VARTC, Santo Vanuatu, 2011 TAN/IND- 555 = TANSAO line from Indonesia, collected from VARTC, Santo Vanuatu, 2011 Talo Salani, cycle- 6 progeny, farmer selection from Salani village. Samoa- 1 & 2 = farmers & MAFF selection, export varieties recommended by MAFF Samoa- 1 is a cycle- 5 progeny from the cross between TAN/IND- 014 and a clone from cycle- 4 top selection. Samoa- 2 is a cycle- 5 progeny from the cross between TAN/MAL- 12 and a clone from cycle- 4 top selection. Cycle- 7s BC 1 were selections from the second backcross (niue) generation Field Planting of Seedlings (F1) at Moamoa USP: These were planted in late April to May 2013 in Moamoa at USP compound. Seedlings were frequently watered for the first three months and chicken manure applied (3 applications). Weeding 124

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126 These are: Clone # C8-1,1,8 Samoa- 1 x C7- BC1-051, Clone # C8-1,1,13 samoa- 1 x C7- BC1-051, Clone # C8-1,4,3 Samoa- 1 x C6-016, Clone # C8-1,5,30 samoa- 1 x C7- BC1-143B, Clone # C8-1,8,19 - C7- BC1-083 x samoa- 2, Clone # C8-1,9,21 samoa- 1 x C7- BC1-143B, Clone # C8-2,2,3 samoa- 1 x C7- BC1-083, NB: corm yield of selected eight lines ranges between 500g to 600g. Support of INEA to also SPC breeding work: INEA also supports SPC taro breeding work based in Samoa. Samoa s export of new taro varieties (Samoa 1 and Samoa 2) has been increased five folds in 2014 from 20 containers (20ft) in 2013 to containers (20ft) in Other selected varieties as part of the Samoa ACIAR PARDI of which INEA also supports through Mr Iosefa to carry out the multi- locational trials of four selected varieties for export. These 4 varieties are Talo Tanumalala, Talo Fusi, Talo Vaovai and Talo Maagiagi to be trialled out in four villages (Fasitoo, Sapunaoa, Falealupo, Vaiafai- Iva). Mr Iosefa is also the SPC regional taro breeder supporting taro breeding programs in Samoa, Cook Islands, Tonga, Fiji, Palau and Kiribati under the AusAID International Climate Change Adaptation Initiative and FAO Benefit Sharing Treaty project. Virus Diagnostic: SPC received Xanthosoma variety from Dr Joseph Onyeka of Nigeria for the project which is yellow fleshed and tolerant to pythium rot. The samples were replicated in tissue culture and virus tested at 3 to 6 months of crop growth in the post- entry quarantine screenhouse. Five replicates of the accession XS/NG/01 (NXS003) from Nigeria were all tested positive at 6 months to DsMV Dasheen mosaic virus, whilst negative to the three other viruses (TaBV Taro bacilliform virus, CBDV (Colocasia bobone disease virus) and TaVCV (Taro vein chlorosis virus). The variety is undergoing thermotherapy exposure to C to kill the viruses, meristem culture, then have plantlets transferred to the post entry quarantine for 3 to 6 months testing again. It is hoping that this time round, it will turn out negative. Discussions have been ongoing with Prof Stephan Winter, DSMZ for validating DSMZ antisera for DsMV and TaBV. This will use the Fiji taro collection at Koronivia Research station for such trials. Trials will be properly started in 2015, due to departure of Amit Sukal to undertake fulltime PhD studies. Mr Semi Cakaunitavuki and Ms Nikita Rao are the virus technicians that have been working with Mr Sukal on this work supported by Valerie S. Tuia in collaboration with DSMZ. Capacity building is also proposed for the SPC virus team by DSMZ together with PNG NARI. 126

127 2.16. CIRAD, France Hana Chair, UMR AGAP, Dept BIOS, Montpellier, France Laurent Soulard, PhD candidate, Montpellier, France During the reporting period 2014 two main activities were conducted on taro (Colocasia esculenta) at Cirad. One is concerning the assessment of the genetic diversity of taro and the second is concerning the analysis of the genetic determinism of vegetative growth, yield and corm quality - traits. I. Genotyping of Colocasia esculenta accessions: Cirad has received accessions from Madagascar partner, the set of accessions sent by SPC to the different partners within the INEA project and accessions from La Réunion. This batch has been genotyped using the same protocol and markers as the ones used before (cf. Annual Report 2013). The aim is to add the Malagasy accessions, which were missing, to our set of data. Also, since the ploidy level was not assessed by flow cytometry or chromosome counting, many doubts subsisted even though after genotyping. For accessions bearing 2 alleles for the 11 SSR markers used, we could not conclude that they are definitely diploids. So to avoid such confusion, markers were scored as dominant ones with 1 for presence and 0 for absence of alleles. After adding the Malagasy accessions, all the set of data was analyzed. Table1 : Number of taro accessions analysed, number of accessions bearing 2 or at least 3 alleles at each locus and number of Multiple Locus Genotypes (MLLs) and Unique genotypes (UG) identified. Continent Africa Americas Asia Oceania Country of Sampling Nb accessions analyzed per country Nb accessions bearing 2 alleles at all loci Nb accessions bearing 3 alleles at least at one locus Nb of MLLs & UG South Africa MLL Burkina Faso MLL Ghana MLL Ile de la Réunion MLL Nigeria MLL Madagascar (2MLL & 3UG) Madeira (1MLL & 4UG) Costa Rica (2MLL & 1UG) Guadeloupe (2MLL & 1UG) Martinique (2MLL & 1UG) Trinidad & MLL Tobago India (3MLL & 34UG) Indonesia (6MLL & 26UG) Japan MLL Philippines (2MLL & 8UG) Malaysia UG Thaïland (1MLL & 1UG) Vietnam (1MLL & 2UG) Papua- New UG Guinea Vanuatu (1MLL & 30UG) 127

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129 Renan Traoré obtained a scholarship from Cirad to spend 4 weeks in Montpellier for data analysis. So, during his stay, first we performed neighbor joining tree using Dice index implemented in Darwin Software. Then genetic parameters such as number of alleles, Genetic diversity, Shannon index were performed using GeneAlex. The NJ tree shows a geographical structuring (Fig1). The Shannon diversity index and Genetic diversity are higher in Asia and Oceania in comparison with Africa, which was expected (Data not shown). Taro is vegetatively propagated crop and as expected many clones were identified within our sample. So we calculated the threshold of clonality in the sample and then we identified the Multi- Locus Lineages (MLL) and Unique genotypes in our sample. Then we recalculated the different genetic parameters. We identified 137 MLLs and Unique Genotypes (Table 1). The number of unique genotypes is much higher in Asia and Pacific in comparison with Africa and the countries from America. Surprisingly, this number is also high in Madagascar and Madeira in comparison with other countries in the region. Among the 20 and 5 accessions analyzed in Madagascar and Madeira, we identified 2 MLLs and 3 UG and 1 MLL and 4UG respectively. This can be due to many factors: Maintaining of the genetic diversity at the country/island scale or better identification of accessions in the field before sending them for molecular analysis. To investigate further the genetic structure of our sample, we used a Bayesian clustering algorithm implemented in Structure. The Bayesian approach shows a structuring in 2 groups: One group (78 MML or UG) is encompassing mostly dilploid accessions from the Pacific and Asia (76/78) and the other (44 MLL or UG) is encompassing mostly accessions from Indian pool. The second group is formed with diploid (15) and triploid accessions (29). Finally 15 accessions were considered as admixed (Fig. 2). Further analyses are under- going and a paper is under writing. II. Phenotypic data analyses: Heritabilities, correlation and correspondence between morphological traits. This work is part of Laurent Soulard PhD thesis. The aim of the study is to investigate heritability, correlation and correspondence of growth, yield and corm quality- related traits through a breeder- friendly design (natural size blocks) in conjunction with a better consideration of spatial and environmental effects. The present study is based on the F 1 (Feb- Nov 2012) and C 1 (Dec Sept 2013). Overall, F 1 and C 1 trials formed a multi- annual experiment where genotypes were not repeated in space but in time, i.e. each genotype was represented by a unique plant, followed over clonal generations. The 13 selected families were randomly distributed into blocks of natural size designed to fit the best possible balance in the field. Overall, the row- column design was made of 10 blocks: two complete (including the 13 families) and eight incomplete blocks. Since the number of plants per plot unit proved to be an important factor for the control of the environmental variance, an optimal plot unit size of 30 hybrids (squares of 5x6 plants, 20m²) was settled. Altogether, the trial included 63 family plot units of 30 plants each (i.e plants). Remaining plants were kept and allocated to mixed plots on the same field (data not shown). In addition, in C 1 trial only, a unique calibrated headset of Tarapatane variety was planted randomly into each plot unit as a control (cf. Annual report 2013). Variance analyses were conducted with SAS software on the 11 quantitative traits measured on the 13 families produced on F1 and C1 (Cf. Annual Report 2013). ANOVA were conducted using mixed linear model in order to better discriminate variance related to genotypic parameters (genotype, family, control) and those related to the environment ( plot, observation date, block, spatial coordinate of individuals).after analysis of spatial structure of raw residuals using empirical semivariograms, spatial autocorrelations was found for plant height, DM, VGI- 1 and VGI- 2. For these 129

130 4 traits, spatial analysis was grafted to the MIXED model in order to improve the capacity of the model for these traits (i.e. based on AIC and BIC values). After selection of the model giving the best aptitude of each trait, estimated variances were used to calculate the heritability at the family and individual levels. Heritabilities were found high for all the traits concerned. The most heritable traits were: number of stolons, number of suckers, corm weight and DM (Table 2). Estimation of genetic effects got from the models (BLUP) were used to calculate the genotypic value of each family and individual. For each generation, phenotypic and genotypic correlations between traits were calculated using Spearman method. The correlations observed between traits were on accordance with previous studies: number of stolons is negatively correlated with the number of suckers, DM content is negatively correlated with corm weight, the VGI is positively correlated with corm weight (Table 3). This correlation has been improved when VGI_2 was used. The stability of traits from one generation to the other was investigated using multiple correspondence analyses (MCA). They allowed the determination of relationships between quantitative and qualitative traits (Shape and colors of corms) (Fig. 3). Paper under submission to Field Crops Research: L. Soulard, P. Letourmy, F. Lawac, H. Chaïr and V. Lebot Genetic control of growth, yield and quality related traits in a Taro multiparental design (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott). Consequences for breeding. Table 2 : Individual and Family heritabilities calculated upon MLM variance components estimates. F1 Variable h 2 FamF1 h 2 FamC1 h 2 IndC1 Nb of stolons Nb of suckers Plant height Length leaf Width leaf X Nb of leaves X Nb of inflorescences VGI VGI- 2 X Dry matter X Corm weight C1 Coef Cor Spear = 0,90 Table 3 : Phenotypic correlation between traits : Correlation Matrix (Spearman) Variables Nb Stolons Nb Suckers Plant Height Leaf lenght C1 Nb Suckers - 0,637 **** Plant Height 0,036 0,220 **** Nb Inflorescences C1 Leaf lenght 0,030 0,131 **** 0,775 **** Nb Inflorescences 0,036-0,032-0,005 0,086 *** VGI - 1 0,007 0,161 **** 0,898 **** 0,969 **** 0,056 * Corm weight - 0,054* 0,206 **** 0,670 **** 0,637 **** - 0,109 **** * P< 0,05 ** P< 0,01 *** P< 0,001 **** P< 0,0001 VGI- 1 C1 0,686 **** 130

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132 2.17. University of Maribor, Slovenia WP 3 - Breeding and on farm participatory selection and evaluation Dr. Anton Ivancic University of Maribor, Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Pivola 10, Hoce 2311, Slovenia Report on activities associated with aroid breeding in 2014 The main objective of our activities was to assist aroid breeders in their work. This assistance involved consultations via internet and practical in situ demonstrations and visits. Internet consultations (e- mail communication) took place frequently (several times every week) and involved partners from Cuba and Caribbean countries, Costa Rica, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and West Africa. If we exclude financing, the main problems in aroid breeding are inappropriate environment, germplasm exchange and poor flowering. The hybridization protocols which were prepared in 2013 appear to be very useful. In order to improve of flowering parental material is the treated with GA 3. The use of this chemical is, in many cases, associated with undesired side effects (formation of long stolons, leaves turning to spathe- like structures, male sterility). As most of aroids are associated with many plant diseases and pests, the agricultural quarantine services are very strict regarding the exchange genetic materials, including seed. For this reason it is very important to establish a self- sufficient breeding program in all major aroid producing countries. The easiest and the most efficient way to initiate a new breeding program is to supply the breeders with hybrid seeds obtained from naturally flowering and naturally hybridised plants, originating from countries which are free of dangerous diseases (pests are not a problem in seed exchange). With this type of seed material INEA supplied Madagascar and Cuba. My activities within INEA also involved the visit of Cuba. It took place at the beginning of September, Cuba is becoming an important producer of aroids, especially cocoyam. The increasing production requires efficient genetic breeding. I visited the Institute for Investigation of Tropical Root and Tuber Crops (INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES DE VIANDAS TROPICALES - INIVIT) near Santo Domingo, Villa Clara, and to help to accelerate the genetic breeding of the aroid species such as giant taro (Alocasia macrorrhizos), taro (Colocasia esculenta) and tannia or cocoyam (Xanthosoma spp.). My activities were associated with the establishment of productive flowering, demonstration of hybridization and self- pollination techniques and discussions about selection procedures. One of the objectives was also to find out if it there was a need to introduce new germplasm for direct use, breeding and/or research purposes. The visit began on September 3, 2014, with the presentation of the theoretical basis of aroid botany, genetics and breeding, and continued with practical demonstrations and discussions. INIVIT is one of the largest institutes for tropical root and tuber crops in the world, with 287 employees (46 researchers; 12 PhD and 12 MSci scientists). The aroid breeding team involves two young and experienced researchers: Dr. Marilys D. Milian Jiménez and ing. Yadelys Figueroa Aquila. The institute has well equipped laboratories for genetics, biotechnology, plant physiology, plant pathology, entomology, screenhouses (providing controlled environment) and c. 200 ha of fertile arable land with a powerful irrigation system. The research involves root and tuber crops (Alocasia macrorrhizos, Colocasia esculenta, Xanthosoma spp., Dioscorea spp., Ipomoea batatas, Manihot esculenta, Calathea allouia, Canna edulis, Curcuma longa, Marantha arundinacea) and several other cultivated species like Abelmoschus esculentus, Capsicum annuum, Carica papaya, Cucumis sativus, Cucurbita moschata, Lactuca sativa, Lycopersicum esculentum and Musa spp.). One of the priorities of this institute is genetic breeding which involves several cultivated species. As a result of the work are numerous cultivars and hybrids which are grown in Cuba and other countries. 132

133 The germplasm collection includes: Colocasia esculenta (104 accessions), Xanthosoma spp. (96 accessions), Ipomoea batatas (640 accessions), Manihot esculenta (580 accessions), Dioscorea spp. (116 accessions) and Musa spp. (350 accessions). Alocasia macrorrhizos, Calathea allouia, Canna edulis, Curcuma longa and Marantha arundinacea are represented by a smaller number of accessions. Improvement of flowering ability of aroid root crops Flowering aroid plants are present, however, there is no pollen. Pollen occasionally appears on Xanthosoma sigittifolium, especially in July and at the beginning of August. The climate appears to be favorable, the soil is fertile, ph is optimal, there are no major disease and pest problems, and during dry periods they use irrigation. The reasons for not producing pollen (and seed) could be: (1) shallow planting on ridges (plants develop strong lateral shoots, there is no distinct dominating main corm); (2) flowering starts when plants are probably too old; (3) inflorescences (if they appear) are small; (4) the stress associated with the exchange of periods of abundant irrigation and periods of severe drought, and (5) there is no shade (tannia appears to flower more intensively in a partial shade). The plants have not yet been treated with GA 3 (the treatment is planned for the near future). In order to solve the problem it was suggested: (1) deeper planting (the planting technique which is practiced in the Southeast Asia and the Pacific); (2) creation of Glircidia sepium alleys in order to provide partial shade and higher level of air humidity; (3) restriction and/or regulation of irrigation, and (4) the application of GA 3 (4-6 weeks before the optimal period for flowering begins). It was also suggested to use the hybrid (botanical) seed brought from the Pacific (i.e., from Vanuatu). The seed is now being germinated in the agricultural quarantine. We expect that hybrid plants will flower naturally. The need for introducing new aroid germplasm The existing aroid germplasm involves mainly the dasheen taro (Colocasia esculenta var. esculenta) and tannia (Xanthosoma sagittifolium, X. violaceum, X. caracu). The giant taro (Alocasia macrorrhizos) is represented by only one accession (it was found to be a cultivated, edible genotype). There is no giant swamp taro (Cyrtosperma merkusii) and no elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius). In one garden, we found one 2.5 m tall plant belonging to the genus Amorphophallus, however, it was not possible to determine the species. It will be necessary to wait until flowering. Analyzing the situation, we concluded that it would be necessary to introduce the cultivated germplasm (edible genotypes) of Alocasia macrorrhizos (botanical seeds) and Cyrtosperma merkusii (as in vitro materials). It may also be useful to introduce the seed material of Colocasia giagantea which can be used as a vegetable. On behalf of INIVIT I asked the coordinators of the INEA Project to help to organize the transfer of the above mentioned germplasm to Cuba. In Cuba, aroids are considered to be very important cultivated species. For a successful breeding, appropriate genetic resources are crucial. The giant taro and the giant swamp taro could contribute significantly to the root and tuber crop production in the country. The giant taro appears to have some tolerance to drought and the giant swamp taro is ideal for shallow swampy areas and river banks. WP 6 - Physico- chemical characterisation of selected genotypes Dr Janja Kristl, University of Maribor Physico- chemical characterisation of corms: In 2014, the analyses of the total protein were concluded on taro samples from Papua New Guinea (in May) and Ghana (in July). In November we received approx. 200 samples of taro corms from Madeira. They were milled and are ready for the analyses of the total protein, minerals and starch 133

134 content. Together with the partners from Madeira, we will study the impact of drought induced stress on the quality of corms (the task 33). In December 2014, we received the 21 samples from Madagascar. They are being processed. We are still waiting for the samples from Nigeria, Philippines, Kenya, South Africa, Cuba, Burkina Faso, Nicaragua and Trinidad and Tobago.. MSci and PhD research (combining WP3 and WP6) Chemical analyses of taro and taro breeding were also incorporated in postgraduate research of the Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences of the University of Maribor: one MSci and one PhD thesis. The MSci thesis Distribution of zinc, copper, iron, manganese and cadmium in taro (Colocasia esculenta) corms, and their impact on the nutritional value was defended on by Tomaz Krizan. The thesis was based on the analyses of taro samples brought from Vanuatu. The analyses were conducted in the chemical labs of our faculty. ABSTRACT: Taro (Colocasia esculenta) is a tropical root crop, whose rich nutritional composition is an important source of human nutrition for millions of people. Within the framework of the international project INEA (The International Network for Edible Aroids), we analyzed the distribution of Zn, Cu, Fe, Mn and potentially toxic Cd in different parts of taro corms (upper, lower, marginal and central) and calculated their contribution to the daily mineral intake. After the microwave- assisted acidic digestion of samples, the concentrations of Zn were determined by flame atomic absorption spectroscopy, whereas the concentrations of Cu, Mn, Fe and Cd were determined by electrothermal atomic absorption spectroscopy (ETAAS). The upper part of corm contained the highest levels of all investigated elements (55.59 ± 11.2 mg Zn/kg DM, ± 1.79 mg Fe/kg MD, 8.00 ± 0.67 mg Cu/kg DM, ± 1.56 mg Mn/kg DM, ± mg Cd/kg DM. High levels of all investigated elements, with the exception of Mn, were also determined in the central part, whereas the marginal part was rich in Zn (59.05 ± mg/kg DM) and Mn (11.71 ± 1.46 mg/kg DM). The lower part contained the lowest concentrations of all investigated elements. In terms of nutritional value, we found that taro is an important source of Zn, Mn and Cu, however, the concentrations of Fe were s too low to achieve the recommended daily intakes. Taro corms also contained significant amounts of toxic Cd ( ± mg/kg DM). The PhD candidate Andrej Mergedus is finalizing his thesis and will probably defend it at the end of April, The title of the thesis is Temporal dynamics and chemical variation of different parts of taro corms (Colocasia esculenta)'. Based on WP 3 (Breeding and on farm participatory selection and evaluation) and WP 6 (Physico- chemical characterisation of selected genotypes), in 2014, we published: 1. MERGEDUŠ, Andrej, KRISTL, Janja, IVANČIČ, Anton, ŠOBER, Andreja, ŠUŠTAR, Vilma, KRIŽAN, Tomaž, LEBOT, Vincent. Variation of mineral composition in different parts of taro (Colocasia esculenta) corms. Food chemistry, ISSN [Print ed.], 2014, vol. 170, march, p MERGEDUŠ, Andrej, ATUNG, Cyril, NASS- KOMOLONG, Birte, KRISTL, Janja, IVANČIČ, Anton, LEBOT, Vincent. Starch, proteins and minerals content of Papua New Guinea taro (Colocasia esculenta) corms. Atiner's Conference Paper Series, ISSN , no. AGR , p

135 2.18. University of Madeira, Portugal Miguel Ângelo Almeida Pinheiro de Carvalho Introduction A set of agronomic experiments have been developed to: establish the water model and irrigation regime for this taro. evaluate the behaviour of several traits under drought conditions. discriminate the taro accessions according to their drought tolerance. select appropriate genetic material for breeding programs. The following agronomic assays has been performed: 3 pilot assays based on a small number of accessions and plants (1 st and 2 nd assays with 4 accessions and 33 to 37 plants; 3 rd assays with 2 accessions and 18 plants per accession; 3 irrigations regimes). 1 full assay, with a wider number of accessions and plants, including 34 accessions and 680 plants; 2 irrigation regimes). 1 partial assays with most perspective accessions (genotypes), including 12 accessions and 360 plants Initially, the project candidature planned the realization of a cooperative assay with participation of project partners from different continents. These assays would be performed in field under different environmental conditions, including reference cultivars/ varieties and local accessions in a number to be established. However, the delays in conclusion of full and partial drought assays prevent its attainment. In the framework of WP5, between 2011 and 2014, the following work was performed the: a) Prospection, acquisition and selection of plant material from the Macaronesian and European taro gene pool (Azores, Madeira, Canaries and Cyprus). b) Reception and acclimation of plant material provided by project partners (SPC, Fiji, India and New Guinea). c) Realization of 1 st pilot assay (2012) aiming to establish the water regime and drought conditions for taro. d) Realization of 2 nd pilot assay (2013), using defined water irrigation regimes (1 st pilot assay) to study the plant behavior, and the variation of different traits and to evaluate their importance in discrimination of plant response to drought conditions. e) Realization of full drought assay (2013/ 2014) aiming to screening 34 accessions (elite local and cultivars) and ranks them according to their tolerance or susceptibility to drought. f) Realization of 3 rd pilot assay (2014), using defined water irrigation regimes (1 st pilot assay) and a smaller number of accessions to confirm the results 2 nd pilot assay (plant and traits behavior under drought conditions). g) Samples treatment and analysis, with provision of samples for chemical analysis by Maribor partner and for study of some biochemical markers. Work underway h) Analysis of data obtained from different agronomic assays. i) Realization of partial drought assay (2014/ 2015) with a smaller number of selected accessions (12 accessions, 6 tolerant and 6 susceptible to drought) to confirm the results full assay. j) Preparation of results for publication. 135

136 This report aims to summarize the most important WP achievements, results and conclusions, highlighting the model of crop water regime and drought stress, evaluating the variation and importance of different traits and ranking taro accessions in relation to their drought tolerance. Taro samples used in the assays: The pilot assays aiming to determine the water regime, drought stress conditions, and plant and traits behaviour was realized in a greenhouse at the University of Madeira, Portugal, involving 4 European taro local cultivars (table 1). These cultivars represent the Macaronesian taro gene pool and were used as standards in the other assays. The remaining 32 elite and local cultivars (table 1), where provided by SCP and INEA partners and used in full and partial assays aiming to rank taro genetic resources, according to their drought tolerance. Results brief analysis: Study of drought conditions on taro, Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott, conducted using elite and local cultivars provided by INEA, SPC and project partners, allowed to obtain information and data about crop water regime (requirements), establish drought stress conditions, evaluate the plant behaviour using morphological, physiological and biochemical traits, rank and classify 34 cultivars for drought tolerance. The WP 5 (University of Madeira) developed also suitable protocols for drought tolerance screening. Water regime and drought conditions: The water regime for taro has studied, during the 3 pilot assay realized by the ISOPlexis Genebank team, preliminary (not complete) results are presented in the table 2. These results allow us to determine an experimental ETo of 72.2 mm/months and Eta of 79.4 mm/months. These results has generated from experimental testing of 3 irrigation regimes to supply the water to the taro drought assays has been defined, namely control (100% ETa, to ml.day - 1 ), (85-56% ETa, to ml.day - 1 ) and (45-38% ETa, 90.9 to 68.0 ml.day - 1 ). Table 1. Table showing taro accessions used, during drought assays, including accession code, variety, origin and assay. Accession Species Variety Origin Assay ISOP 2057 C. esculenta Colorado Canary Islands Full assay ISOP 2058 C. esculenta Morado Canary Islands Full assay ISOP 2059 C. esculenta Blanco Canary Islands Pilot (1-2) ISOP 2056 C. esculenta Listado Canary Islands Full assay ISOP 2060 C. esculenta Barranquera Canary Islands Full assay ISOP 2061 C. esculenta Blanco Saucero Canary Islands Full assay ISOP 2062 C. esculenta Barranquera Sauces Canary Islands Full assay ISOP 2183 C. esculenta Branco Azores Islands Full assay ISOP 2184 C. esculenta Vermelho Azores Islands Full assay ISOP 2186 C. esculenta Kolokasi Cyprus Full assay ISOP 2207 C. esculenta Roxo Madeira Pilot (1-2); Full assay ISOP 2208 C. esculenta Branco Madeira Full assay ISOP 2209 C. esculenta Branco Madeira Full assay ISOP 2210 C. esculenta Roxo Madeira Full assay ISOP 2211 C. esculenta Branco Madeira Full assay ISOP 2212 C. esculenta Roxo Madeira Full assay ISOP 2213 C. esculenta Branco Madeira Full assay ISOP 2214 C. esculenta Roxo Madeira Full assay ISOP 2215 C. esculenta Roxo Madeira Full assay ISOP 2216 C. esculenta Branco Madeira Pilot (1-2); Full assay ISOP 2220 C. esculenta Vermelho Madeira Pilot (1-2) EXOP 2232 C. esculenta PExPH 15-6 BL/HW/08 SPC, Fiji Full assay 136

137 EXOP 2233 C. esculenta C3-12 BL/PNG/10 SPC, Fiji Full assay EXOP 2234 C. esculenta C3-22 BL/PNG/11 SPC, Fiji Full assay EXOP 2235 C. esculenta Samoa43 BL/SM/43 SPC, Fiji Full assay EXOP 2236 C. esculenta Lepa BL/SM/149 SPC, Fiji Full assay EXOP 2237 C. esculenta Ngerruch CE/PAL/10 SPC, Fiji Full assay EXOP 2238 C. esculenta Karang CE/MAL/08 SPC, Fiji Full assay EXOP 2239 C. esculenta Karang CE/MAL/10 SPC, Fiji Full assay EXOP 2240 C. esculenta Manokwari CE/Ind/31 SPC, Fiji Full assay EXOP 2242 C. esculenta Srisamrong CE/THA/07 SPC, Fiji Full assay EXOP 2243 C. esculenta Looh Lom CE/THA/08.R1 SPC, Fiji Full assay EXOP 2243 C. esculenta Looh Lom CE/THA/08.R2 SPC, Fiji Full assay EXOP 2244 C. esculenta Boklua CE/THA/24 SPC, Fiji Full assay EXOP 2245 C. esculenta Wasehasuba- Imo SPC, Fiji Full assay CA/JP/02 EXOP 2246 C. esculenta Takenoko- Imo CA/JP/08 SPC, Fiji Full assay The results of these irrigations regimes have been used to define the conditions of water supply in the full assay. Two irrigations regimes have been applied to control (140.0% ETa; mm.month - 1 ; ml.day - 1 ) and experimental variant (76.0% ETa; 77.5 mm.month - 1 ; ml.day - 1 ), during the assay. Table 2. Experimental determination of taro water regime for drought tolerance assays Experimental system Vol., L SWC, % SWC ini, mm SWC ter, mm T, mm WS, mm fws, mm WS, ml.day - 1 Control, 0% % Control Control + plant % Variant % Variant + plant % Variant % Variant + plant Where experimental system represents a pot with soil or pot with soil and plant, percentage indicate the amount of water supplied in a daily base. SWC - soil water capacity; T - evaporation or evapotranspiration in the full experimental system (with plants); WS water supply; fws full water supply for the assay. Evaluation of traits in relation their effectiveness An evaluation of the effectiveness of 14 morpho- agronomic and 8 physiological and biochemical traits has done. The table 3 summarize the most important results in the identification of traits that could effective assist in field screening of taro drought tolerance. This list of traits (characters) still preliminary and can be revised as result of data treatment and accomplish of remaning goals of WP. 137

138 Table 3. Traits association with drought tolerance (DTI) or susceptibility (DSI) indexes using Tukey post hoc test Trait designation Indexes association Variation trend Discrimination Plant height DSI decrease susceptibility Leaf width DSI high susceptibility Leaf length DSI high susceptibility Fresh total plant biomass DSI decrease susceptibility Fresh corm biomass DSI decrease susceptibility Water use efficiency DSI decrease susceptibility Fresh total plant biomass DTI increase tolerance Fresh corm biomass DTI increase tolerance Water use efficiency DTI increase tolerance Screening of taro elite and local cultivars for drought tolerance Table 4. Rank Sum ranking taro elite and local cultivars according to their drought tolerance, using multiparameters values Acession Variety name Origin Acession Variety name Origin 2061 Blanco Saucero Canary islands 2243 R1 Looh Lom CE/THA/08 SPC, Fiji 2239 Karang CE/MAL/10 SPC, Fiji 2238 Karang CE/MAL/08 SPC, Fiji 2214 Roxo Madeira 2215 Roxo Madeira 2056 Listado Canary islands 2211 Branco Madeira 2207 Roxo Madeira 2060 Barranquera Canary islands 2241 Manokwari CE/Ind/31 SPC, Fiji 2245 Wasehasuba- Imo CA/JP/02 SPC, Fiji 2240 Lebak CE/Ind/16 SPC, Fiji 2210 Roxo Madeira /05 Branco Azores 2209 Branco Madeira 2057 Colorado Canary islands 2234 C3-22 BL/PNG/11 SPC, Fiji 2058 Morado Canary islands 2243 R2 Looh Lom CE/THA/08 SPC, Fiji 2213 Branco Madeira 2184 Vermelho Azores 2244 Boklua CE/THA/24 SPC, Fiji 2232 PExPH 15-6 BL/HW/08 SPC, Fiji 2216 Branco Madeira 2242 Srisamrong CE/THA/07 SPC, Fiji 2186 Kolokasi Cyprus 2208 Branco Madeira 2210 Roxo Madeira 2062 Barranquera Sauces Canary islands 2212 Roxo Madeira 2235 Samoa43 BL/SM/43 SPC, Fiji 2236 Lepa BL/SM/149 SPC, Fiji 2246 Takenoko- Imo CA/JP/08 SPC, Fiji 2233 C3-12 BL/PNG/10 SPC, Fiji 2237 Ngerruch CE/PAL/10 SPC, Fiji A screening of 34 taro elite and local cultivars has been done has result of the full drought assay, developed in the last year, using the traits that are specifically associated with the stress tolerance. These results are summarized in the table

139 Table 5 ISOPlexis Genebank acession, designation and geographical origin of the varieties selected for further drought stress essay Acession Variety name Origin Classification 2061 Blanco Saucero Canary islands- La Palma Tolerant, high yield 2216 Branco Madeira Island Tolerant, high yield 2186 Kolokasi Cyprus Tolerant, high yield 2239 Karang CE/MAL/10 SPC, Fiji Tolerant, medium yield 2234 C3-22 BL/PNG/11 SPC, Fiji Resistant, low yield 2056 Listado Canary islands- La Palma Resistant, low yield 2244 Boklua CE/THA/24 SPC, Fiji Resistant, low yield 2210 Roxo Madeira Island Resistant, low yield 2232 PExPH 15-6 BL/HW/0 SPC, Fiji Sensitive 2208 Branco Madeira Island Sensitive 2062 Barranquera de los Sauces Canary islands- La Palma Sensitive 2246 Takenoko- Imo CA/JP/08 SPC, Fiji Sensitive Based on the results of the full assay a selection of 12 taro cultivars, 6 most tolerant and 6 susceptible ones has done to be included in the further assays for drought tolerance assessment that are also recommend to be standards for evaluation purposes (Table 5). Conclusions As result of the execution of work plan of the WP 5 Evaluation of drought resistance of elite cultivars and seedlings 3 pilot assays and one full assay aiming to study define taro watering regime, drought stress conditions, evaluation of different morpho- agronomic and physiological traits, and screen and discriminate the taro accessions (elite and local cultivars). All these goals has been achieved with different levels of success, definitive conclusions are depending of the data analysis, biochemical studies and results of final partial drought study. At the present moment we can state that a classification of 34 accessions in relation to their drought tolerance has performed with the identification of 6 cultivars more drought tolerant and 6 cultivars more sensitive. These accessions are currently object of a final assay to confirm obtained results (classification) and obtain accessions for further biochemical and molecular studies. Glasshouses experiments in Madeira 139

140 2.19. DSMZ, Germany Marion Liebrecht & Stephan Winter, DSMZ Plant Virus Department, Germany Introduction and summary In 2014, virus research at DSMZ Plant Virus Department concentrated on The development of specific tests for virus detection and identification that can be use in routine virus diagnosis The validation and subsequent prescription of molecular and serological assays to be used as standard procedures The production of virus reference materials The genome analysis of a Colocasia bobone disease- associated virus (CBDaV) isolate in Taro obtained from Papua New Guinea The characterisation of Taro vein chlorosis virus (TVCV) isolates in Taro obtained from Vanuatu The investigations on CBDaV transmission by Tarophagus colocasiae using planthoppers collected in Solomon islands. All plant materials were maintained at DSMZ Plant Virus Department under tropical (>26 C glasshouse conditions) for symptom expression and subsequent virus studies. Taro with proven virus infections were: Dasheen mosaic virus (DsMV), Taro bacilliform virus (TaBV), Taro vein chlorosis virus (TaVCV), Colocasia bobone disease- associated virus (CBDaV). In addition Taro samples with suspected Bobone or Alomae were maintained for symptom development and virus analysis. Routine tests for virus detection and identification Serological tests based on ELISA are current international standards to test for virus freedom of plant materials prior to international movement of germplasm. These methods can be used in laboratories with only limited infrastructure and simple equipment, are fairly cheap and can be scaled. Viruses in Taro cannot be propagated in herbaceous hosts outside the Aroids and hence it was not possible to isolate virus particles in sufficient quantity and purity to raise specific antibodies to be used in ELISA. Consequently alternative routes of antibody production were followed. Based on the analysis of the virus genomes, particular genes were selected from each virus, isolated and cloned into expression vectors for production of recombinant proteins. In- vitro expressed proteins were purified, re- natured and used for antibody production. Antibodies against recombinant proteins were raised against DsMV coat protein cistron; TBV - ORF 2 and ORF 3, CBDaV nucleocapsid protein gene and glycoprotein gene, Taro tenuivirus coat protein gene. Because the analysis of the TaVCV genome is still pending, this virus was not included in the experiments. ELISA tests using the antisera specified were used to detect the respective viruses in Taro. The tests worked well for DsMV and TaBV while it failed to detect CBDaV and the tenuivirus. The reason for the failure is not clear yet and either a result of a weak antigen and subsequently a weak antiserum or, the low virus concentration in Taro preventing ELISA detection. However, ELISA tests proved reliable for detection of DsMV and TaBV. 140

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143 M7H$+( CD B:;&T: T)L &G I)>N G/&T F&K&T&; +'K);<' ^1LL:/_ );<,&TL)/+'&; &G (C: 0:;&T: IC+'<+Q:/'+(R&GI)>N0:;&T:');<(C:L/:':;,:&G\J*N'/:;<:/);),,1/)(:Q+/1'<+':)':<+)0;&'+' 3)':<&;J%*Q:/R<+GG+,1K(#>:,)1':\J*N')/:;&(L),?)0:<+;Q+/1'L)/(+,K:');<3:,)1':\J*N' 0:;:')/:;&((/);'K)(:<+;(&L/&(:+;'O<:(:,(+&;&GQ+/1'L/&(:+;'c%J&/;&;['(/1,(1/)KL/&(:+;'c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a&M:Q:/)KK)((:TL('(&G1KKR,C)/),(:/+':(C:0:;&T:&G(C:':+'&K)(:' G)+K:<);<C:;,:I)N%N<+)0;&'+'+''(+KK;&('1GG+,+:;(KR+;Q:'(+0)(:<#IC:*([J%*L13K+'C:<C&M:Q:/ L/&Q:<,&TL:(:;((&<:(:,(I)%NNG/&TN);1)(1OC&M:Q:/+(+'1;,K:)/MC:(C:/I)N%NG/&T&(C:/ /:0+&;'M&1K<C)Q:'+T+K)/':Y1:;,:'# 143

144 Detection of Taro tenuivirus in Taro Antisera against expressed recombinant virus coat protein failed in ELISA detection of the tenuivirus both in N. benthamiana and in Taro. However, the Rt- PCR test developed proved competent in detection of virus sequences in Taro. The tenuivirus however was only isolated from Taro collected in the Solomon islands and never outside of the region. This virus is suspected to have a contribution to the Alomae disease. But pending new virus samples from the Solomon s, neither its role in the disease can be confirmed nor the competence of the diagnostic test validated. Detection of Taroviruses in Taro seed Seed was obtained from Taro in Vanuatu. Seed transmission of Taro viruses is highly unlikely as the viruses do not belong to genera transmitted by seed and also DsMV has never been reported as seed transmission. Still seed transmission needs to be excluded hence virus testing in seed will be investigated. So far the tests have not started. Output & future developments: Protocols for detection of DsMV, CBDaV and TaBV by ELISA and Rt- PCR are available. Positive controls for all viruses are produced and reference samples are maintained as inoculum. All tests, ELISA tests and Rt- PCR assays are to be sent to partners for ring testing and validation. Seed health tests are to be conducted to verify if seeds can be tested for virus presence (spiking) and if seed are carrying virus. For the latter seeds from virus infected plants, TaVCV from Vanuatu, DsMV from Vanuatu, CBDaV from bobone and alomae plants collected in PNG and Solomon islands need to be collected and tested at DSMZ. Diagnostic tests for TaVCV need to be validated with new plant material collected from Vanuatu. The improvement of tests is pending the reconstruction of a complete TaVCV genome. Genome characterisation: Colocasia bobone disease associated virus (CBDaV) genus Cytorhabdovirus The sequence of this plant rhabdovirus was reconstructed and a phylogeny was built classifying this virus as Cytorhabdovirus most related to Northern cereal mosaic virus. Ultrathin sections of CBDaV infected plants verified that this virus is not associated or within the nucleus. Hence while TaVCV and CBDaV are both negative- sense RNA rhabdoviruses, they are unrelated and distinct virus species from different genera. Further Taro samples suscpicuous for CBDaV with Bobone ore Alomae type symptoms were obtained from PNG in CBDaV was confirmed in those samples but neither of the other viruses, TaBV or Taro tenuivirus earlier found in ALomae samples from Solomons were present. The complete genome of the CBDaV isolate from PNG was reconstructed using standard long distance RT- PCR and Sanger sequencing. There are still open gaps to close 3 contigs to reconstruct the genome however, it is already clear that CBDaV from PNG albeit is a divergent isolate. Further investigations on the relationships among the virus isolates are pending the finalisation of the complete genome of CBSaV- PNG. 144

145 M7H$+(0D*:,&;'(/1,(+&;&G%>7)NG/&TJ.B#IC/::,&;(+0'^<)/?3)/'_);<)K+0;:<(&(C:/:G:/:;,: ':Y1:;,:%>7)N[F&K# E%+*8(7#6F&*+*97987+$9YE%JRJZH(#$9=$6&(*+F%N:*87+$9.& G1/(C:/ M&/? C)' 3::; <&;: (& /:,&;'(/1,( (C: I)N%N 0:;&T: '+;,: ;:M +;G:,(:< T)(:/+)K +' ;::<:<);<I)N%N+':'()3K+'C:<1;<:/(C:7FHS0K)''C&1':,&;<+(+&;'#6KKG1/(C:/M&/?+'L:;<+;0 )//+Q)K&G;:MT)(:/+)K'# E%+*E(#$787+$9H(#$9E(#$787+$9 IC:M&/?&;(C:0:;&T:&G(C:(:;1+Q+/1'M)'(:TL&/)/+KR'1'L:;<:<3:,)1':&G&(C:/L/+&/+(+:'# `;,: T&/: ')TLK:' )/: /:,:+Q:< );< (C: /&K: &G (C+' Q+/1' +; (C: >&3&;: &/ 6K&T): <+':)': +' Q:/+G+:<O:VL:/+T:;('(&Q:/+GR=d);<2d':Y1:;,:M+KK3:()?:;1L)0)+;# EF(%(,7*&*H4*5^*N*#(%#:"&*3%(D R*&*6%97%N*N*#(:79(%9(%99*67%,(:87+$9YR^S%JZ IC:):(+&K&0R&G6K&T):);<>&3&;:<+':)':+'<+GG+,1K((&,K)/+GR3:,)1':(C:Q+/1':''1'L:,(:<(&3: +;Q&KQ:<+;(C:<+':)':c%>7)NOIC:(:;1+Q+/1');<h&/I)>N;::<(&3:(/);'T+((:<(&C:)K(CRI)/& (&G1KG+KKj&,Cd'L&'(1K)(:'#B/)G((/);'T+''+&;'(1<+:'<&;:)(7FHS'&G)/G)+K:<(&(/);'T+(%>7)N );<L:;<+;0Q:,(&/+;':,('O:VL:/+T:;('(&+;<1,:(C:<+':)':)/:'1'L:;<:<#I)/&LC)01',&K&,)'+): +;':,(',&KK:,(:< G/&T (C: F&K&T&;d' M:/: T&/LC&K&0+,)KKR Q:/+G+:< );< '13':Y1:;(KR (:'(:< G&/ L/:':;,:&G%>7)N# 8; &/<:/ (& 3: (/);'T+((:< 3R ) LK);(C&LL:/O %>7)N C)' (& L)'')0: (C/&10C (C: 01( (& /:),C (C: C):T&KRTLC &G ) L1()(+Q: Q:,(&/# I& Q:/+GR (/);'K&,)(+&;O %>7)N M)' <:(:,(:< +; (C: +;':,(' ^L/:':/Q:<+;\(`a_3R*([J%*1'+;0*.6L/:L)/:<G/&TC):T&KRTLCL/:':;(+;:V,+':<K:0'&G(C: 'L:,+T:;#IC+'L/&Q+<:<+;<+/:,(L/&&G(C)(%>7)N+'Q:,(&/:<3RI#,&K&,)'+):#8;':,('(C)(<+<;&(,&;()+;%>7)N+;)MC&K:3&<R*.6L/:L)/)(+&;)K'&<+<;&(,&;()+;);RQ+/1'':Y1:;,:'+;(C:K:0# J/&Q+<+;0L/&&GG&/Q+/1':',&;(/+31(+;0(&>&3&;:);<6K&T):O/:Y1+/:'K+G:Q:,(&/+;':,(');<T&/: LK);(T)(:/+)KG/&T(C:F&K&T&;d'&/J.B+;&/<:/(&1':(/);'T+''+&;)'')R'(&:'()3K+'C:+(C:/),&TL&;:;(&G(C:<+':)':&/(C::;(+/:,&TLK:V# M$,$+(T*+UD 6KK Q+/1' <:(:,(+&; L/&(&,&K' M+KK 3: G+;)K+':< );< ;::< (& 3: Q)K+<)(:< 3R ':K:,(:< L)/(;:/' c@+b++o J.BON);1)(1n 145

146 Virus samples from partners shall be checked for presence of additional viruses or isolates Philippines, South America, Fijii, PNG, Solomon s Seed health testing for viruses in Taro seeds will be executed in order to evaluate whether seed health testing is either feasible or relevant. Standard operation procedures will be developed to update the guidelines for virus testing and international movement of germplasm Life insect populations will be established from collections for back transmission studies of TaVCV, CBDaV and Taro tenuivirus. 146

147 3. Appendix 1: INEA Third Annual Meeting, Santo, Vanuatu, 2-6 Feb 2015 Introduction and summary of recommendations Introduction The participants of INEA, the International Network for Edible Aroids, met at Santo, Vanuatu, 2-7 February 2015, for the third time. The participants were welcomed by the Provincial Secretary of Sanma (Santo and Malo islands), Mr Bouletare. In his opening address, he welcomed the participants to Vanuatu, and said that taro and other edible aroids were major foods of the country, and have high cultural value, so it is very fitting that the meeting is here. It was good to see that so many people from around the world had taken the long journey to the Pacific, an indication of the importance of the INEA programme. The Technical Coordinator, Vincent Lebot, mentioned that four INEA members were unable to attend the meeting: Cuba, Burkina Faso, Indonesia, Madagascar, and Nicaragua. This was due to delays by banks in making fund transfers. However, reports were received from Burkina Faso, Indonesia, and Madagascar. A representative from Madagascar will come the following week. A special welcome was extended to Dr Dilberto Ferraren, the representative of the Philippines. It was good to see him again after the terrible events of Typhoon Haiyan. During the first day, the meeting concentrated on reports from the partners of the South, the so- called "fast lane", concerning on- station evaluations of the SPC - the Secretariat for the Pacific Community varieties, on- farm trials with farmers, and the start of taro breeding. 147

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