Evaluation of cassava cultivars in the Ribeira Valley, State of São Paulo, Brazil

The present paper reports a final evaluation of the best cassava clones for table, selected in the Ribeira Valley, State of São Paulo, Brazil, from a genetic basis of 306 cultivars of the germoplasm bank of the Agronomic Institute. Three experiments were carried out at the Pariquera-Açu Experimental Station, during the 1989/90, 1990/91 and 1991/92 seasons under a randomized design with 12 treatments (cultivars) and four replications. The most relevant results, were: (a) the cultivars had different root yields in relation to years. However, the cultivar IAC 576-70 was the most productive, with a yield of 34.3 t/ha in average, meanwhile the cultivar used as test plant showed an average yield of 17.8 t/ha; (b) the results of the cooking tests were not significant for the relationship cultivar x year interaction. The local cultivar presented the lowest average cooking time of 26 minutes in boiling water.

cassava; Manihot esculenta Crantz; cultivars; root yields; culinary qualities