Review of Taro (Colocasia esculenta) Genetics and Breeding

Germplasm screening, characterization and genetic improvement activities play great role in production and productivity of crops. Crop genetic evaluation can be conducted by morphological or molecular techniques and the available result has wide application in agriculture. Beside, appropriate breeding methods help to develop desirable plant character for further utilization depending on the identified gaps. Better understanding of crop genetic characteristics and breeding methods are useful in germplasm collection, conservation and utilization particularly in case of root and tuber crops. Different scientific findings on taro genetic characterization and breeding achievements were reviewed in this paper for further understanding and information dissemination. It was characterized largely based on morphological characters and few on molecular techniques and in both presence of variability that can be used in improvement programs was reported. Classical and modern taro breeding approaches utilized resulted in high yielding variety, disease resistant variety and drought resistant cultivar.