From Taiwo Oluwadare, Ibadan
Scientists working on cassava breeding have developed technology called Semi-Autotrophic Hydroponics (SAH) to rev up the propagation of clean cassava planting materials.
According to Dr. Peter Kulakow, a cassava breeder with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), SAH involves the use of modified soil, which holds plant roots in planting pots with little water.
“Usually, the trays are filled with a little amount of water, and the soil transports the moisture up to the plant roots, yet the top of the soil remains relatively dry. The roots are encouraged to grow down, and the dry soil on top discourages damp-off and other diseases caused by excess moisture,” Kulakow said in a statement made available to journalists in Ibadan last week.
According to him, “the beauty of the technology was its rapid multiplication ratio and usually when breeders develop new cassava varieties, the challenge is how to multiply and disseminate to farmers. Hence, cassava is a clonal crop and multiplication is done using stems; this process takes several years.”
Kulakow said this explains in part why it takes long for new improved varieties to be disseminated at scale to farmers. “With this technology, these constraints will be addressed and it will be easier for farmers to have easy access to new varieties once we develop them,” he explained.
He added: “But beside addressing the constraints of slow and low multiplication ratio in cassava seed system, the SAH technology also produces clean planting materials that are disease-free. The cost of production of the plants is cheaper using SAH when compared to tissue culture.