Potential of Tannia (Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L.) Schott.) for Organic Production

Abstract

Information on organic production of tannia is meagre. Two separate field experiments were conducted at Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Sreekariyam, Thiruvananthapuram during 2003-2005 to evaluate the growth and yield response of tannia to organic management. The results clearly indicated that tannia is more adapted to organic cultivation and has great potential for organic production. In the first experiment, among the various nutrient management practices, application of FYM @ 12.5 t ha-1 and ash @ 3 t ha-1 favoured plant height, leaf production, number of cormels, cormel yield, mother corm yield and dry biomass yield of corms and cormels. In the subsequent experiment, organic farming involving use of organic manures viz., farmyard manure @ 20 t ha-1, green manuring with cowpea to generate 15-20 t ha-1 of green matter in 45-60 days, neem cake @ 1 t ha-1 and ash @ 2 t ha-1 produced significantly higher cormel yield (11.25 t ha-1) and mother corm yield (22.96 t ha-1).