Breeding Cassava for Virus Resistance

Abstract

So long as cassava (Manihot utilissima Pohl.) continues to rank as a staple food for a large proportion of the indigenous population of East Africa, the improvement of the crop must figure in the agricultural economics of the country. The comparative freedom of the crop from pests, and its drought resisting qualities, render it of particular value as an "insurance policy" against famine when it is less afflicted by drought and locusts than. Other crops. That it is, however, subject to great reduction in yield, due to infection by the mosaic virus, has been recognized for many years. In Zanzibar, Briant and Johns (1940), have shown that the loss in a non-tolerant variety, propagated from diseased cuttings, may be as high as 95 per cent. Experimental work at Amani demonstrated that this virus was transmitted by a white fly, Bemisia sp. (Storey and Nichols, 1938); field experiments showed that natural infection was mainly seasonal and in certain areas extremely high. These experiments also demonstrated that some varieties are less prone to infection than others. This disease occurs throughout East Africa.