By Nikita Espangel
According to a recent study published, page four out of five of the top disease resistant taro variety types hail from Palau.
The study was published in the December 2012 issue of HortTechnology. In a 12-year-trial, physician 119 varieties of taro were planted and evaluated on the Hamakua coast of the Big Island of Hawai’i. With a mean annual rainfall of 130 inches, story the area is susceptible to disease outbreaks. The varieties were tested for its resistance to Taro Leaf Blight, a disease that degrades the quality of the taro.
Taro Leaf Blight can be seen with large dead spots on taro leaves. In extreme cases, entire plants rot and die. The disease was accidentally introduced to Samoa in 1993, where it completely devastated taro production. As a result, almost no taro was produced until 1998.
In 1994, several women from the states Peleliu, Koror, Airai, and Ngaraard in Palau donated taro plants to a project conducted by the University of Hawai’i. The project aimed at look for varieties less susceptible to the Tao Leaf Blight. One of these varieties, known as Ngeruuch, was used to breed more resistant varieties for the Samoan people to plant. Due to this and other Blight resistant varieties Samoan taro production has since recovered.
Also tested in the study were taro variety yields (the amount they produce), and their resistance to corm rot. Five varieties of taro stood out as having the most resistance to Taro Leaf Blight, the highest yields, and the most resistance to corm rotas resistance to corm rot or obei as it is known in Palau. The four varieties from Palau are Dirratengadik, Merii, Ngesuas, and Ochelochel; the fifth variety, from Pohnpei, is called Sawa Bastora.
Taro is not only an important crop to Palau, but to the Pacific Islands as a whole. Globally, it is the fifth most produced root crop in the world with about 20 billion pounds being produced in 2010. In addition to the Pacific, the crop is grown widely in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and South America.