The Crop Productivity of Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) in Kagoshima, Prevailing a Temperate Zone in East Asia I. Growth, Dry Matter Production and Yield

Abstract

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is highly productive in the tropics and sub-tropics, including marginal conditions. A high starch content cultivar IAC-576-70, selected at the Instituto Agronômico de Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, was grown in a field in Kagoshima Prefecture during cropping seasons from 2007 to 2009, to determine its capability as a biomass source even in a temperate region of southwest Japan. At the experimental site, the annual mean temperature was 18.3°C with several incidences of frost in winter and annual mean rainfall of 2280 mm (for years from 1971 to 2000). Under these conditions, cassava grew for 8 months from late April to mid-December, and produced a total dry weight of 1793 g m^–2, tuberous root dry yield of 524 g m^–2 and tuberous root fresh yield of 2000 g m^–2. The yield in Kagoshima was equivalent to that at 8 months after planting in tropical regions.