Central Tuber Crops Research Institute

About: Central Tuber Crops Research Institute is a facility organization based out in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Starch & Fermentation. The organization has 475 authors who have published 587 publications receiving 10285 citations.

Mineral nutrition of cassava

Abstract: Cassava is an important tropical root crop with versatile uses in food, feed, green energy and industrial sectors. It is grown mostly for food in Sub-Saharan Africa, food and other uses in Latin America and feed and other uses in Asia. The current global level of productivity of about 12 t/ha is only 12% of its potential productivity. Major reasons for the wide yield gap are lack of scientific nutrient management and unbalanced crop nutrition. In this review, we update the gap in cassava productivity, soil requirements, nutrient requirements and evolution of fertilizer recommendations and its impact on bridging the yield gap. Research work on mineral nutrition of cassava, especially in Asia and Latin America is aplenty. Among the major nutrients, cassava removes large quantity of potassium along with the harvested produce compared to the other nutrients. The range of critical levels of P and K reported for cassava was lower than the corresponding values reported for most of the crops, which shows its adaptability to grow and yield under poor soil fertility conditions. Studies on nutrient requirements of cassava showed that the N:P:K uptake ratio in total plant dry matter was 6.2:1:6.6. The total N, P and K uptake requirements for producing one ton of fresh cassava tuber ranged from 2.9 to 6.9 kg for N, 0.68 to 1.3 kg for P and 3.9 to 7.9 kg for K. Large variations in blanket NPK recommendations could be observed among different countries. An attempt to compare inorganic nutrient management with organic nutrition on growth, yield, quality and soil properties is also made. Presently, more knowledge-intensive and computer simulation model-based site-specific nutrient management (SSNM) using models such as quantitative evaluation of fertility of tropical soils (QUEFTS) has proved to be a better alternative in reducing the yield gap of cassava in India and some West African countries. More basic knowledge need to be emanated from further research for developing field level nutrient recommendations under changing climate, especially drought. Development of a cassava SSNM network (CSN), analysis and interpretation of already existing data of different national and international research institutes and generation of required additional field data will help to further improve the SSNM technology and its wider application for precision nutrient management, combating wide spread nutrient disorders and enabling better yields among cassava growing countries across the globe.

Higher yield, profit and soil quality from organic farming of elephant foot yam

Abstract: Alternative agricultural systems, like organic farming, that are less chemical intensive, less exploitative and environment friendly are gaining popularity. Elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson) is an important starchy tuberous vegetable with high nutritive and medicinal values. Since information on the organic farming of tuberous vegetables is scanty, field experiments were conducted in this crop at the Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, India, over a 5-year period. The impact of organic, conventional, traditional and biofertilizer production systems on growth, yield, quality, soil physico-chemical properties and economics were evaluated in elephant foot yam. Our results show that organic farming favoured canopy growth, corm biomass and lowered collar rot disease. Dry matter and starch contents of organic corms were significantly higher than those of conventional corms by 7% and 13%, respectively. Organic corms had 12% higher crude protein and 21% significantly lower oxalate contents. The content of K, Ca and Mg in corms were slightly higher, by 3–7% under organic farming. After 5 years of farming, the organic plots showed significantly higher pH, by 0.77 unit, and higher organic C by 19%. The exchangeable Mg, available Cu, Mn and Fe contents were also significantly higher. Organic management lowered the bulk density by 2.3%, improved the water-holding capacity by 28.4% and the porosity of soil by 16.5%. In short, organic farming proved superior and produced 20% higher yield (57.097 t ha−1) over conventional practice (47.609 t ha−1). The net profit was 28% higher and an additional income of Indian Rs. 47,716 ha−1 was obtained. Thus organic farming was found to be an eco-friendly management strategy in elephant foot yam for sustainable yield of quality tubers and higher profit besides maintaining soil health. Technologies for organic production involving farmyard manure incubated with bioinoculants, green manuring, neem cake, biofertilizers and ash were also standardized.

Drying kinetics and physico-chemical characteristics of Osmo- dehydrated Mango, Guava and Aonla under different drying conditions

Abstract: Mango (Mangiferra indica L), guava (Psiduim guajava L.) slices and aonla (Emblica officinalis L) segments were osmo-dried under four different dying conditions viz., cabinet drier (CD), vacuum oven drier (VOD), low temperature drier (LTD) and solar drier (SD) to evaluate the best drying condition for the fruits. It was found that vacuum oven drying was superior to other mode of drying as it holds maximum nutrients like acidity, ascorbic acid, sugar and water removal and moisture ratio of products. It was found through regression analysis that drying ratio and rehydration ratio was also superior in vacuum drying followed by cabinet drying. In addition, descriptive analysis on sensory score was also found best with vacuum drying while the Non-enzymatic browning (NEB), which is undesirable character on dried product, was more with solar drier.

Evaluation of nutritional and physico-mechanical characteristics of dietary fiber-enriched sweet potato pasta

Abstract: The objective of the present study was to enhance the utilization of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas Lam.) as a slowly digestible food by developing dietary fiber-fortified pasta from it. Swelling index as well as cooking loss (%) was more for the pasta made from the pale cream-fleshed variety, Sree Arun (V1) than that from the orange-fleshed variety, Sree Kanaka (V2), and least values were obtained in the pasta fortified with rice bran. Fortification with oat bran, wheat bran, and rice bran elevated the crude protein content to 5–10% in the pasta. Total and insoluble dietary fiber fractions were more in the pasta from Sree Arun (6–17 and 5–14%, respectively) than those from Sree Kanaka (5.25–15 and 3.7–11%, respectively) with the highest values in the wheat bran-fortified pastas. All the fiber-fortified pastas (10 and 20% level of fortification) had slow and progressive starch digestibility over 2 h compared to the control pastas. While approximately 70% of the total starch was rapidly digestible for the control pastas from both the varieties, this was drastically reduced to 45–54% in the test pasta from V1 and 37–50% in V2. Accordingly, the retention of resistant starch (RS; undigested starch after 2 h) in the control pastas was only 14–17%, while it was 38–49% in the test pastas from V1 and 39–55% from V2, with higher RS in the 20% fortified pastas. Texture profile analysis showed that the firmness (N) and toughness (Ns) increased with increase in the fortification level of fiber sources. The progressive starch digestibility coupled with high-resistant starch after 2 h indicated the potential of fiber-fortified sweet potato pasta as an ideal food for the diabetic and obese people.

Improved sugarcane productivity with tillage and trash management practices in semi arid tropical agro ecosystem in India

Abstract: Sugarcane productivity at the farm level has been stagnant in India, at around 54–72 t ha −1 . One of the main reasons for this low productivity is the yield gap between ratoon and plant cane yield. To improve the ratoon yield and bridge the yield gap, a field experiment was conducted for two seasons with different tillage systems and trash management practices. The treatments in main plots were T1—tillage by tractor drawn off barring (TT), T2—conventional tillage by the bullock drawn country plough (CT) and T3—no tillage (NT) along with seven types of trash management practices (viz., mulching, shredding combined with micro organisms etc.) as sub plots. The results revealed that Tillage by Tractor drawn off barring, (TT) combined with adoption of trash shredding + composted pressmud + wonder life (S4) treatment significantly improved the germination percentage, tiller number, number of millable canes and ultimately the ratoon cane yield in both the seasons. Similarly, soil physical parameters such as bulk density, mean weight diameter, water stable aggregates, soil moisture content were also significantly influenced by the above treatment when compared to control. Besides, root weight of cane, quality parameters of cane juice, soil available N and P, organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) population also were significantly improved by the adoption of tillage and trash management practices. The results suggest that the tillage with adoption of trash management practices assisted in improving the profitability by way of higher sugarcane ratoon productivity and also in sustaining the soil fertility.