2. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Origin and Distribution Tannia was originated in tropical America, but currently grown widely as a subsistence food crop in Asia, Africa and Polynesia (Bown, 2000). From five crops which are under sub family aroid the only tannia originated from Central & South America others originated from South-east Asia (Lebot, 2009). When the Europeans arrived, it was further known to have been grown from Southern Mexico to Bolivia in the Latin America. Only during the 19th century,
crop, its domestication and cultivation already occurred when rice and wheat were just weeds (Matthews 1995; Bown 2000; Ivanicic & Lebot 2003; Ramanatha et al. 2010). Together with Colocasia, genera of Xanthosoma taro (L. Xanthosoma spp.) are the most widely grown and consumed aroids. Xanthosoma taro is the only indigenous American aroid that is widely used for food and considered a most important food crop. Furthermore, numerous languages and dialects use a great variety of overlapping, common
Taro (Colocasia esculenta) Breakthrough improvements in the major grain crops have increased world food production dramatically during the last twenty seven years. The advancements in grain production, however, have not brought significant benefits to areas where root crops are the major staples. Therefore, more emphasis should be directed toward such root crops as taro, which is a staple food in many developing nations of Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. Taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott)