Where did wild populations of Manihot esculenta subspecies flabellifolia live?
Wild populations of Manihot esculenta subspecies flabellifolia lived in west-central Brazil. These plants are the ancestors of all modern cassava crops.
Questions about Cassava
Short answers, pulled from the story.
When was cassava first domesticated by people?
Archaeologists found evidence that people first domesticated this crop no more than 10,000 years ago. By 4600 BC, cassava pollen appeared at the San Andrés archaeological site in the Gulf of Mexico lowlands.
How much cyanide do bitter cultivars of cassava contain per kilogram?
Bitter cultivars may hold as much as 1,000 milligrams of cyanide per kilogram of fresh roots. A dose of 25 milligrams of pure cassava cyanogenic glucoside is enough to kill a rat.
Which country led global cassava root production in 2022?
Nigeria led global output with 60.8 million tonnes representing 18 percent of the total. World production of cassava root reached 330 million tonnes in 2022 according to FAOSTAT data.
What happened during the African cassava mosaic virus outbreak in the late-1980s?
A mutation occurring in Uganda during the late-1980s made the virus even more harmful causing complete leaf loss. By 2005 this mutated strain spread throughout Uganda Rwanda Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.