ABSTRACT:

Taro, elephant foot yam and tannia are the three major aroid types commonly cultivated in India for the edible tubers for use as vegetable. These crops are vegetatively propagated. Improvement work has been done mainly by clonal selection from land races available in the country. Of the different varieties released in these crops, eight taro varieties and two elephant foot yam varieties are from the Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Trivandrum and its regional centre at Bhubaneswar. Among the three crops, genetic variability exists in taro in which open pollination and seed set occurs, whereas lack of seed set due to the very low flowering nature along with protogyny and incompatibility have restricted the seed set in elephant foot yam and tannia resulting in the lack of variability. Using the rarely flowered accessions, breeding procedures in all the three crops were standardized at the CTCRI and true seed production was achieved in large scale which has enabled the enhancement of the genetic variability in taro and in elephant foot yam. The release of the first hybrid variety in taro (Sree Kiran) and elephant foot yam (Sree Athira) from the CTCRI indicate the scope of hybridization and selection for the production of heterotic hybrids in these crops. Breeding programs are underway for the production of disease resistant varieties. The sexually derived clones are under different stages of evaluation. The aroid breeding in India is limited to a national level research programs. The germplasm of these species has been collected from different parts of India and evaluation is being undertaken to unlock the potential of these species for various attributes. Structuring the genetic diversity is necessary to optimize the use of germplasm by breeders for which molecular level screening is highly warranted.