Cuba obtains the botanical seed of the taro Xanthosoma spp
The Research Institute of Tropical Plants of Villa Clara (Instituto de Investigaciones de Viandas Tropicales (INIVIT) not only placed Cuba in top places on this type of research but also solved the historical challenge that was blocking the possibility of hybridization in this genre.
For the first time Cuba obtains the seed of taro Xanthosoma spp. a challenge that made historically impossible to produce hybrids of this plant and that is now finally overcome. According to declarations made by the Ministry of Agriculture Agronomist Engineer, Alay Jiménez, author of the named research, the achievement has a transcendental meaning for many reasons, it is now possible to improve taro Xanthosoma spp. We are solving the fundamental problem of taro’s erratic flowering which has been the main obstacle in applying classic hybridization methods to this plant.
"A polygenic plant, the taro Xanthosoma spp., is able to generate genetic variability through gene recombination from differing parental plants. This option is radically superior to the most common option of clonal selection able to exploit mainly preexisting variation and which is subject to reverting.”
This achievement, he pointed, puts Cuba at the forefront of this type of research. “There are few countries who have a program as strong as the one INIVIT has, which already counts with the progeny of two families: one with 140 hybrids and the other one with 35.”
The achievement was made public to the scientific community on June 2, 2025 through an article published in the high impact international research magazine “Agronomy.” The article is titled “Novel Insights into Botanical Seed Production of Xanthosoma spp. in Cuba”.
“Until 2023 genetic improvement of taro Xanthosoma spp. was possible only using the method of improvement through selection, which includes identifying among a population of individuals the plants with superior phenotypic characteristics
“If the selection made was not a plant resulting from genetic mutation, there was a possibility that as time passed the genotypes selected would not continue to express that particular superiority themselves. On the other hand the classic methods of hybridization have been used for more than half a century but it was never successful mainly because of erratic flowering in this species and in our conditions” the researcher explained.
The initial impact and the following ratification experiments were conducted all within the Genetic Improvement Program of INIVIT. “It was proven in its experimental fields and with the creation of the first germplasm bank of taro Xanthosoma hybrids», he added.
Agronomist Engineer Alay Jiménez recognized the value and support of consulting researcher Alfredo Morales Rodríguez. The goal achieved was always the focus of an already disappeared researcher and for many years Director of INIVIT Sergio Rodríguez Morales. “He transferred to me the responsibility of continuing the research of Xanthosoma spp., and he also deposited in me his confidence in the capacities I developed since the beginning of my work in this institute.”
Translation by NSCUBA (Nova Scotia)
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