Taro Breeding Program

American Samoa’s loss of all traditional taro varieties in the 1990s due to taro leaf blight disease shows the need for this project. Taro, the staple food crop of American Samoa, is subjected to changing climate, soil, pest and disease conditions. Production and evaluation of new taro varieties is important to identify varieties with acceptable eating quality and tolerances to heat, salinity, pests and diseases. The taro breeding program, with subsequent field propagation and micropropagation, has allowed the development and multiplication of new taro varieties that are currently being evaluated for disease resistance, yield and eating quality.

Production of locally selected high yielding, disease resistant taro varieties with excellent eating quality will enhance economic security for both commercial as well as subsistence farmers while increasing the long term viability of production and consumption of this most important component of local agroecosystems, local culture, and local diet. The breeding program has made great strides in selecting and evaluating suitable germplasm which is now being multiplied for more extensive testing.

Four areas of interest for taro varieties:

Taro for local fresh taro market
Taro with yellow and orange corm flesh color with increased nutritional value (phenolic acids, anthocyanins, and carotenoids)
Taro with high yields and early maturing for processing (chips, flour, animal feed)
Taro with increased tolerance to salinity.