
"Cassava Improvement to Enhance Livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa and Northeastern Brazil"
Cassava
wild relatives are perennial and vary in growth pattern from nearly
acaulescent subshrubs to small trees. They have been used as a source
of useful characters such as high protein content, apomixis, resistance
to mealybug and mosaic disease and tolerance to drought. Indigenous
clones are potential source of b-carotene and lycopene. Apomixis genes
have been transferred successfully through interspecific hybridization
to the crop, and apomictic clones arising from these hybrids are being
now grown at the Universidade de Brasilia. Interspecific hybrids
produced early have been polyploidized and have their fertility
restored. Different useful types of chimera were also produced.
Publicado por Thesaurus Editora, 1a edição, 2006, 160 páginas.