ABSTRACT
Cassava or manihot, a major tropical root crop, rannks among the world's major staple foods, with the world harvest reaching 100 million metric tons in 1976. Cassava, normally a rain-fed crop, is easily planted and requires few inputs and little manual attention. In general, potatoes are more prone to pest attack than cassava, although sweet potato has notably fewer yield-diminishing diseases than other potatoes. In iodine-deficient areas, the cyanogenetic glycoside linamarin that is present in the cassava root can inhibit thyroid activity. Cassava is widely used in most tropical areas in animal feed. Because cassava is the dominant root crop in many tropical regions, root crops generally are often erroneously associated with low protein yields. A comparative study of corn, sugar cane, cassava, bananas, and cabbage has shown that cassava is not the roost nutrient-depleting of these crops. Cassava hornworm has been biologically controlled by placing Polistes wasps near the crop.
