Cassava Breeding and Agronomy Research inAsia Il Proceedings of aRegionai Workshop Held inRayong, Thiailand, Oct. 26-28,1987. Organized by Centro Internacional de Agricultu'ra Tropical (CIAT) with financial support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the cooperation of the Department of Agriculture of Thailand CIAT is a nonprofit organization devoted to the agricultural and economic development of the lowland tropics. The government of Colombia provides support as a host country for CIAT and furnishes a 522-hectare site near Cali for CIAT's headquarters. In addition, the Colombian Foundation for Higher Education (FES) makes available to CIAT a 184-hectare substation in Quilichao and a73-hectare substation near Popay.in; the Colombian Rice Federation (FEDEARROZ) also makes available to CIAT a 30-hectare farm - Santa Rosa substation - near Villavicencio. CIAT co-manages with the Colombian Agricultural Institute (ICA) the 22,000-hectare Carimagua Research Certer on the Colombian eastern plains and carries out collaborative work on several other ICA experimental stations in Colombia; similar work is done with national agricultural agencies in other Latin American countries. CIAT is financed by a number of donors, most of which are represented in the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). During 1985 these CIAT donors include the governments of Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, the People's Republic of China, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America, Organizations that are CIAT donors in 1985 include the European Economic Community (EEC), the Ford Foundation, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Rockefeller Foundation; the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. Information and conclusions reported herein do not necessarily reflect the position of any of the aforementioned entities. Cassava Breeding and Agronomy Research inAsia Proceedings of aRegional Workshop Held inRayong, Thailand, Oct. 26-28, 1987. Technical Editors R. H. Howeler and K. Kawano Organized by : Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CiAT) with financial support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the cooperation of the Department of Agriculture of Thailand. .L) Cover photo : Kazuo Kawano Cassava harvest at Umas Jaya Farm in South Sumatra. Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical Apartado Aereo 67- 13 Cali, Colonbia C'A T Regional Cassava Program for Asia Field Crops Research Institute Department of Agriculture Bangkhen, Bangkok, Thailand Octobe.-1988 Printorder : 400 copies CIA T (Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical) 1988. Cassava breeding and agronomy research in Asia. Proceedings of a workshop held in Thailand, Oct 26- 28, 1987. Howeler, R. H. and K. Kawano (Eds), Bangkok, Thailand. 350 p. I Cassava Asia - Breeding - Agronomy - Congresses, Conferences, etc. 11 Howeler, R.H. and K. Kawano. Ill Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical IV United Nations Development Programme V Thailand, Department of Agriculture CONTENTS Page Welcoming Address 1 Dr. VichitrBenjasil CIAT Cassava Program and Its Role in Asia 3 Kazuo Kawano Cassava Breeding in Thailand 9 Sophon Sinthupramna, Charn Tiravorn and Watana Watananonta Cassava Varietal Improvement at Kasetsart University, Thailand 21 Chareinsuk Rojanaridpiched Cassava Breeding in Indonesia 27 Roberto Soenarjo, Soemarjo Poespodarsonoand J. HardonoNugroho Cassava Varietal Improvement in India 35 G. G Navar, R. B. Nair and P. G. Rajendran Cassava Varietal Improvement at PRCRTC, Philippines 43 AIgerico M. Mariscal Cassava Varietal Improvement at the University of the Philippines at Los Banos 55 Azucena L. Carpena Cassava Varietal Improvement in China 61 Lin Xiong, Wang Shunuan and Tang Xuecheng Cassava Varietal Improvement in Malaysia 69 Tan Swee Lian Cassava Varietal Improvement and Agronomy Research in Sri Lanka 79 S.D. G. Jayawardenaand K. P. U. De Si/va Cassava Breeding - CIAT Headquarters 99 Clair H. Hershey' CIAT Cassava Germplasm Development in Asia- Cooperation with National Programs 117 Kazuo Kawano Rapporteur's Summary of Discussion on "Priority Areas in Breeding" 127 Tan Swee Lian Cassava Cultural Practices Research in Thailand 131 A nuchit Tongghm, Charn Tirapornand Sophon Sinthuprama Cassava Soils Research in Thailand 145 Chote Sittibussaya, Chumpol Narkavirojand Dissapun Tunmaphirom Soil and Climatic Characterization of Major Cassava Growing Areas in Thailand 157 Pva Duangpatra Page Agronomic Practices in Major Cassava Growing Areas of Indonesia 185 J. Wargiono Cassava Agronomic Practices and Research in East Java, Indonesia 205 Bambang Guritno and Wani Hadi Utomo Cassava Agronomy and Soil Research in India 229 C.R. Mohankumar, B. Mohankumarand S.P. Gosh Agronomic Research on Cassava in the Philippines 261 FedericoG. Villamayor, Jr. Research of Cassava Cultivation Techniques in China 297 Zhang Weite, Wang Shunuan and Chen Weihong Cassava Agronomy Research in Malaysia 309 Tan Swee Lian Agronomic Practices for Cassava Production in Asia 313 Reinhardt H. Howeler Rapporteur's Summary of Discussion on Research Priorities in Cassava Agronomy 341 Piya Duangpatra I' WELCOMING ADDRESS Dr. Vichitr Benjasil Director Field Crops Research Institute, Department of Agriculture, Bangkhen, Bangkok, Thailand In the name of the Department of Agriculture of the Thai Government I wish to welcome to Thailand all the participants of this Workshop on Cassava Breeding and Agronomy Research in Asia. In collaboration with the Regional Cassava Program of the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT), the Department of Agriculture has helped to organize this workshop in order to establish closer links and collaborative research with breeders and agronomists of the various cassava producing countries in southern Asia. During this week we hope to share with each other the experience we have gained in cassava research, both in the development of new and higher yielding varieties, as well as better cultural practices, in order to improve the efficiency of our research effort. While we all know that cassava is one of the most efficient producers of carbohydrates and is an extremely important crop for many farmers, especially in the more marginal areas, it is also well known that most governments in Asia have given priority to research on rice, and that funding for cassava research is generally very limited. Thus, under these circumstances, it is not only desirable but absolutely necessary to pool our combined knowledge and experience of this crop in order to speed up its development, not only as a subsistence staple but as a highly productive and highly versatile crop that has a multitude of end uses, both for human and animal nutrition as well as for industrial purposes. There remains a challenge for both breeders and agronomists, to develop better varieties and management practices for cassava cultivation in order to increase the productivity and the standard of living of the poorest sector of the population-our cassava farmers. This task will be more efficiently done and more easily accomplished through the collaboration with other national cassava programs as well as with international institutes like CIAT. I therefore hope that the deliberations during this week will be fruitful and will lead to the establishment of a cassava research network in order to increase cassava productivity in the region and improve the lives of our peoples. CIAT CASSAVA PROGRAM AND ITS ROLE IN ASIA Kazuo Kawanol' CGIAR Centers The 1950s and 1960s were a period of widespread public and scientific concern that the rapidly growing population in less developed countries would soon outstrip the world's capacity to provide food. With the initiative of the Rockefeller and Ford Foundations, which had ample experience in cooperating with national agricultural research programs of less developed countries, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) was established with the cooperation of the Philippine government in the early 1960s. The Rockefeller Foundation's cooperative program in Mexico evolved about the same time into the establishment of CIMMYT, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. The common objective of the research efforts of these two institutes was to improve the quantity and quality of food production in developing countries. The basic strategy was to apply scientific research that had been successful in temperate zone food production to tile tropical zone. Concentration on key crop commodities and an interdisciplinary crop improvement approach were the style of this new research endeavor. The advantage of international centers in collecting, evaluating and distributing world germplasm resources and offering communication and training opportunities to national programs soon became obvious. The spectacular success of new high-yielding strains of rice and wheat adapted to high input cultural conditions not only increased the production of major food commodities in many tropical countries, but also convinced administratoi, of both developed and developing countries of the benefit of investing in tropical agriculture research. This led to the establishment of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Nigeria and the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) in Colombia in the late 1960s. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) was established in 1971 to coordinate the management of these international agriculture research centers around the world. CGIAR is an association of countries, international and regional organizations, and private foundations. The international agriculture research centers under the auspices of CGIAR, which have now grown into 13 centers, are commonly called CGIAR centers (Figure 1). While much of the original research strategy is still valid, the CGIAR centers have increasingly identified problems which could not be solved simply by applying production technology developed in temperate countries to the tropics. The basic difficulty of tropical agriculture stems from the tremendous variability in crop germplasm, in pests, and in the production systems, as well as the highly complex edapho-climatic and socio-economic situations I Cassava breeder and coordinator, CIAT Cassava Aian Regional Program, Bangkhen, Bangkok, Thailand. 3 -I-. .- . _ .-- -­ /Fiqulre'1. '(I.R Ceteltrs inl 1986. in which each farmer conducts his production. "Low-input techlnology" , " Sustainability" "Social equiy" or ")ecentralization of crop improvenient" are tlie key words ini these days, especially among ihe C(.iIA R centers whose research commodities are small farmers' crops, such as beans and cassava of, CIAT. The l'inal ob.iectives of' the endeavor rest on the strengthening of national prog rais by olfering techiology and ilforiation which can better be handled by internitionial centers through ilterrnatioial cooperation. Cassava Progran at CIAT Cassava is olle of' the most elTicieni producers of' carbohydrates in the tropics (de Vries 'l al., 1967; Martin, 1970; No.jima and Hirose, 1977: Kawano et ul., 1978, Cock, 1982) and iiiider mar.ilgin:ll soil ald raiil'all condit ions it is unsurpassed 1 other crops (Cock an(l -loweler, 1978). II is grown tlhroughout the tropics by'small f'ariiiers, using traditional methlods of cultivation in areas \\iti poor soils. Cassava is lie 'ourtlh most inportant crop iin terms of' dietary energy prodtuced and consumed withinnlihe tropics (Table 1). More recetl, it has been used increasingly for animal 'ecd and indlustrial starch. ]'le iinportance and potential ol cassava, however, has beti largely neglected whein coinl pireL with otlher crops, as can )e s'cel 'rom lhe (listicil .ilyall amount of resources allocated to research oin this crop (Table 2). Cassa' a origiunated in Latin America and most of its evolition took place there. It was widcly disiribuied throughout the lowland tropics of L.atin America, and bel'ore the arrival of the Europeans in ilie 1511 century it (lid not exist ouiside ilhis contineint. However, in Ile post- Colombian era, he crop spread rapidly, first to Africa and latcr to Asia. Germplasm variation of' a crop species is richest at lhe center of origin and diversification of lhe species. Evoliion of disease and pest species that thrive oin a crop pariallels tle evolution ot1 lie crop species; thus, tile nuiher of biological yield constraints is highest in file centcr of' crop origin aiid diversif'ication (Jlennings and Cock, 1977). 4 Table 1. Calories produced and utilized for direct human consumption within the tropics from major staples. Calorie consumption Tropics Crop Billions of calories per day TO Tropics World World Rice 924 2043 45 Sugar 311 926 33 Maize 307 600 51 Cassava 172 178 97 Sorghum 147 208 71 Millet 128 204 63 Wheat less than 100* 1877 5 Potato 54 434 12 Banana 32 44 73 Plantain 30 30 100 Sweet Potato 30 208 14 *Wheal figures are distorted by the fact that major production zones in Brazil, Mexico and India are outside tie tropics and have beeni adjusted to account for this. Source : FAO Food Balance Sheets 1975 --1977. Table 2. Research expenditure as a percentage of commodity value for various crops in Asia (excluding China and Japan) in 1959 and 1974. Percentage of product value Crop Expended on research 1959 1974 Cotton 0.43 0.58 Rubber 0.40 0.57 Sugarcane 0.10 0.24 Wheal 0.08 0.23 Maize 0.06 0.12 Rice 0.05 0.12 Sorghum and Millcts 0.04 0.11 Pulses 0.02 0.06 Roots and Tubers 0.01 0.03 Source :R.-. Evenson (1978). True to the theory, nearly the entire germplasm variation of cassava exists in Latin America; the African and Asian germplasm consis's of a part of the Latin American germplasm and its local recombinants. A broad spectrum of diseases and pests is found in Latin America, while the number of diseases and insects is less in Africa and especially in Asia. African mosaic disease seems to be the only major disease of cassava that does not exist in Latin America. This background makes Colombia, South America, a logical location for an international center of cassava research. Thus, a cassava program was established inthe early 1970s at the Centro lnternaclonal de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) in Cali, Colombia. The importance of' African mosaic disease, and the overwhelming importance of cassava to the African diet, led to the establishment in the late 1960s of the Cassava Program of the International Institute 5