Applications for Realizing Cassava Opportunities

• Starch quantity and quality for diverse end uses
• Biofortification: using conventional and novel tools for crop improvement to increase micronutrient density in cassava
• Biochemistry, molecular genetics, and fermentation for developing new products and improving their texture, taste, and nutritional value
• Improved efficiency in plant nutrient recycling
• Extended range and increased productivity in sub-optimal agroecological zones through research on photosynthesis under stress, enhanced mycorrhizal interactions, and biofertilizers

Applications for Solving Cassava Problems

• Integrated pest management, including host/pathogen and host/pest interactions
• Resistance to important bacterial and viral diseases such as cassava bacterial blight (CBB), cassava mosaic disease (CMD), and cassava anthracnose disease (CAD); and pests such as cassava green mite (CGM) and whitefly
• Modified cyanogen biochemistry for optimal cassava production and use
• Improved processing qualities that increase labor productivity and reduce drudgery
• Enhanced fermentation systems for reducing cyanogen and managing waste
• Delayed postharvest deterioration
• Development of True Seed for Cassava Production

Tools for Genetically Improving Cassava

• Molecular and cytological characterization of genomes of Manihot species
• Molecular genetic map and international database of genomic data
• Useful genes and gene promoters, characterized and cloned
• Gene tagging of traits of agronomic importance
• Improved regeneration systems
• Improved genetic transformation techniques
• Techniques for regulating reproductive biology such as flowering, pollen conservation, double haploid production, and apomixis

Tools for Conserving and Enhancing Manihot Genetic Diversity

• Collection and assessment of genetic diversity of wild and cultivated gene pools for enhanced conservation; and definition of useful variability, using new molecular marker tools such as the simple sequence repeat (SSR) technique and the diversity array technology (DArT)
• Diagnostic methods for clean germplasm transfer
• Cryopreservation for long-term conservation of genetic resources
• Tissue culture for germplasm conservation, exchange, and micropropagation