Application of Biotechnological Tools for Tropical Tuber Crop Improvement

Abstract

Tropical root and tuber crops serve as second main food crop after cereals. They are wealthy source of dietary fibres and play key role in the food security of global population. Cassava, sweet potato, yams, taro, tannia and minor tuber crops are the tropical tuber crops mainly cultivated in India. Despite of its agricultural importance most of the tropical tuber crops are not as much of exploited like other food crops. By various modern biotechnological approaches such as next generation sequencing (NGS) with the aid of various omics technologies the various novel traits of tuber crops can be identified. Application of plant biotechnology have already proven as promising technology for developing economically important plant varieties with novel traits even with interspecies crosses. Here we describe the past developments and modern approaches of plant biotechnology for the improvement of tropical tuber crops.