New industrial cassava cultivars diversify starch production in Central Brazil

Embrapa Cerrados (DF) launches this Tuesday (14/09), at 2 pm, in an online event on Embrapa's YouTube channel, the cassava cultivars for the flour and starch industry BRS 417, BRS 418 and BRS 419, the first specially developed for the conditions of the Cerrado of Central Brazil. They stand out for their high starch productivity – up to 30% higher than that of the most planted cultivar in the region –, for their favorable architecture for cultural treatments and mechanized planting due to the higher height of the plants and the first branch, as well as for their moderate resistance to bacteriosis, the main crop disease in the Biome. The result of a participatory genetic improvement research that started in 2012 and which included cassava growers, cooperatives and rural extension workers from different starch production hubs in the Cerrado, the materials will contribute to improving cassava production systems in the region, in addition to enabling the greater diversification of ...