ISHS Acta Horticulturae 670: I International Symposium on Root and Tuber Crops: Food Down Under
SWEETPOTATO PRODUCTION WORLDWIDE: ASSESSMENT, TRENDS AND THE FUTURE |
| Author: | S.J. Kays |
| Keywords: | flavor, quality, rice, potato, cassava, population, utilization, consumption, nutritional attributes, processed products. |
| Abstract:
The sweetpotato is the 7th most important food crop worldwide. When contrasted with other major staple food crops, the sweetpotato has a diverse range of positive attributes: high yield (kg•ha-1•day-1), nutritional value (e.g., vitamins, nutriceuticals, glycemic index, dietary fiber), production geography, length of production cycle, and resistance to production stresses (high temperature, water deficit, insect and disease pressure, low fertility). Over the past 42 years, sweetpotato production worldwide has remained static, even though the world population has essentially doubled; hence the consumption per capita has progressively declined. Sweetpotato has been and continues to be bypassed as a preferred food source for the world’s expanding population. When contrasted with rice, it is evident that the lack of increased production of the sweetpotato is not due to an inability to grow the crop but rather in its utilization. Plant breeding represents the most expedient avenue for addressing deficiencies in the crop that modulate utilization. Critical breeding objectives should be: 1) decreasing the cost per kg of usable product; and 2) improving the flavor and acceptability of the sweetpotato as a human food. | |
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