title: Cassava in South America, Brazil's contribution and the lesson to be learned from India.
abstract: South America is responsible for about half of the cassava world production. In the 1970's productivity of the crop on the continent was about 15 ton/ha, and dropped continuously until reaching 12 ton/ha in 2004. India's productivity of cassava increased from 10 ton/ha in the 1970's to 28 ton/ha in 2004. Brazil contributed significantly to improving cassava crops through the Instituto Agronômico de Campinas in the 1960's and 1970's. The Universidade de Brasília released high-protein content hybrids, apomictic clones and explored the potential of indigenous landraces.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Genética e Morfologia, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brasil. nagnassa@rudah.com.br
authors.forename: Nagib M A
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Nassar
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods*; D001938:Brazil; D001947:Breeding; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D002365:Manihot / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified