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.

Anthocyanins in Sweet Potato Leaves-Varietal Screening, Growth Phase Studies and Stability in a Model System

Abstract: The sweet potato genotypes in the CTCRI germplasm collection were screened for anthocyanin content in the young top leaves and the values varied from 20-200 mg/100g fresh weight of the leaf samples, the highest being recorded for the genotype S-406. Total anthocyanin content (TAcy) showed significant difference among genotypes, growth phases, and growing seasons. The TAcy in the leaves reached a peak at 20 days after planting, declined after 35 days, returned to 20 day levels or higher by 50-65 days and remained stable or exhibited a slight decrease by 105 days after planting, for most of the genotypes selected for growth phase studies. Approximately 50-60 % decrease was observed in the TAcy of the frozen/thawed leaf samples. The stability of anthocyanin pigments in a model sugar-citrate solution at ambient (30 ± 2 °C) and refrigerated (8 ± 2 °C) conditions was studied. The solutions stored at low temperature and in dark showed higher retention of pigments. Compared to anthocyanins extracted from grape po...

Ethanol production from mahula (Madhuca latifolia L.) flowers using free and immobilized (in Luffa cylindrical L. sponge discs) cells of Zymomonas mobilis MTCC 92

Abstract: A novel immobilization method involving Zymomonas mobilis immobilized in a luffa (Luffa cylindrica L.) matrix for ethanol production from mahula (Madhuca latifolia L.) flowers was investigated. The dried spongy fruits of luffa, a cucurbitaceous crop available in abundance in tropical and sub-tropical countries, have been found to be a promising material for immobilizing microbial cells. In our study, the cells not only survived, but they were also active physiologically for four growth cycles, yielding ethanol at 251.1 ± 0.012, 247.9 ± 0.08, 243.4 ± 0.042 and 240.71 ± 0.033 g/kg flowers in the first, second, third, and fourth cycles, respectively, after 96 h fermentation. Ethanol production by the immobilized cells was 9.2% higher than that by free cells. The ethanol yield (Yp/s), volumetric substrate uptake (Qs), and final sugar to ethanol conversion rate (%) obtained with luffa-immobilized cells of Z. mobilis were 0.439 ± 0.004 g/g, 0.994 ± 0.009 g/l/h, and 87.8%, respectively, which were 7.06, 2.62, and 6.92% higher than that of free cells.

Isozyme analysis of indigenous cassava germplasm for identification of duplicates

Abstract: Isozyme analysis was utilized for identification of duplicates in indigenous collection of cassava germplasm. 786 indigenous accessions of cassava were screened for 11 key morphological characters and the morphological duplicates were identified. Two hundred and eighteen accessions of cassava consisting of ninety one sets of morphological duplicates were analysed for esterase isozyme polymorphism. Thirty seven polymorphic bands were obtained, showing high polymorphism for this enzyme. Thirty seven double sets and 17 multiple sets were found to be similar at isozyme level. These isozyme duplicates will be further analysed for DNA similarity before eliminating them from the field germplasm. The dissimilar sets showed variation in minor morphological characters, thus confirming the relation between isozyme polymorphism and phenotypic variation.

Soil Fertility Management Strategies in Edible Yams and Aroids: A Review

Abstract: Soil fertility as well as nutrient management of crops depends on the different processes of nutrient dynamics viz., nutrient flow/movement, nutrient transformation, nutrient utilization and its absorption, which in turn influences not only the crop yield but also the quality of the produce. The interaction among the nutrients leading to these processes usually takes place in the soil, rhizosphere and also in the soil-plant system. Any disruption in these processes will result in the manifestation of various nutritional disorders. These processes at the different sites are affected by native soil characteristics and other extraneous factors. In this review, a thorough documentation of the different processes leading to nutrient dynamics in three species of edible yams viz., greater yam ( Dioscorea alata ), white yam ( Dioscorea rotundata ) and lesser yam ( Dioscorea esculenta ) and edible aroids viz., elephant foot yam ( Amorphophallus paeoniifolius ), taro ( Colocasia esculenta ) and tannia ( Xanthosoma sagittifolium ), including the response of independent nutrients as well as combination of nutrients on yield and quality, index leaf tissues, critical concentration of nutrients for deficiency/sufficiency and the nutritional disorders have been done.

Variation in Morphological Characters and Storage Root Yield among Exotic Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato Clones and their Seedling Population

Abstract: Clonal evaluation was carried out with 1630 orange-fleshed sweet potato seedlings from controlled crosses of ‘Jewel’ population introduced from International Potato Centre (CIP), Lima, Peru. Morphological observations like leaf shape, emerging leaf colour, skin colour and flesh colour of storage root, weight of vine and storage root yield per plant were recorded. Wide variation was observed for all the qualitative and quantitative characters. Three types of leaf shapes were exhibited by the clones (cordate-81.65%, slightly lobed-16.69% and narrowly lobed-1.66%), while emerging leaf colour ranged between green (92.5%) to purple (7.5%). Four shades were observed in skin colour of storage roots varying from pink (35.21%), green (22.39%), purple (19.69%) to light pink colour (13.74%). The flesh colour of storage roots were observed to range from orange (37.48%), light orange (28.71%), dark orange (6.38%), cream (15.46%) to yellow (0.55%). The vine weight and root weight, being a quantitative character, varied according to the clone and environmental conditions (0.17 to 1.3 kg per plant). The vine weights of all the clones were higher in the lowland conditions than the upland conditions. Based on the evaluation of 1630 clones for tuber yield, tuber shape, β -carotene content and other agronomic characters, 224 clones were selected as superior progenies for recombination and sib-mating from which promising orange-fleshed varieties of considerable value can be generated.