Taro

Taro

Scientific name: Alocasia esculenta (L.) Schott

Local name: ‘Mukhikachu’

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taxonomic Position According to Cronquist (1988)

 

KingdomPlantae
DivisionMagnoliophyta
ClassLiliopsida
SubclassArecidae
OrderArales
FamilyAraceae
GenusAlocasia
SpeciesA. esculenta

 

Botanical Description of Taro

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Habit: Perennial herb of 1-2 m tall.

Root: Adventitious root system, shallow and fleshy.

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Stem: Underground stem modified into corm, is a cylindrical or spherical, bulb-like fleshy structure with short internode at the base of the stem.

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Leaf: Simple, alternate, composed of leaf sheath and leaf blade. The blade is big heart-shaped. The petiole is long.

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Inflorescence: Spadix with bract, spathe.

aroid-flower

Flower: Three types of flower namely male, female and neuter flowers are present

Fruit: Berry

Chromosome number: 2n=28

Economic Importance: widely used as vegetable, almost every plant parts like leaf blade, petiole, rhizome, stole etc. are used as vegetable.

Table 1: Some aroids are developed by Tuber Crops Research Center (TCRC), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Joydebpur, Bangladesh

Serial NumberName of varietyDeveloped byYear of ReleaseGrowing seasonAverage Yield

(t ha-1)

1Bilashi

(Mukhikachu)

Tuber Crop Research Centre, BARI1988Kharif20-25
2Latiraj

(Panikachu)

Tuber Crop Research Centre, BARI1988Kharif25-30
3BARI Panikachu-2

(panikachu)

Tuber Crop Research Centre, BARI2008Kharif25-30
4BARI Panikachu-3Tuber Crop Research Centre, BARI2008Kharif20-25
5BARI Panikachu-4Tuber Crop Research Centre, BARI 2013 Kharif 35-45
6BARI Panikachu-5Tuber Crop Research Centre, BARI2013 Kharif 35-40
 7 BARI Panikachu-6 Tuber Crop Research Centre, BARI2017 Kharif 70-90

 

References

  1. Flora and Fauna Web
  2. BARI

 

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