This paper discusses the potential benefits from shade management in agroforestry systems for taro cropping. Trial work to evaluate weed growth, taro production, and cultivar responses to shade levels are reviewed. It is concluded that weed growth can be reduced in tree-shaded plots without reducing corm production. Higher crop biomass is obtained when taro is grown under fifty percent shade co...

In the past, only about 10% of the World population used root crops as the major staple, [1] but presently the diet of most Ghanaians is based on roots and tubers, and on processed cereal grains. The common roots and tubers utilized in Ghana are mostly cassava, yam and cocoyam. Cereals such as rice, maize and sorghum are also greatly patronized. However, there are other important roots and tube...

Taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) is widely distributed in tropical and sub-tropical areas. However, its origin, diversification and dispersal remain unclear. While taro genetic diversity has been documented at the country and regional levels in Asia and the Pacific, few reports are available from Americas and Africa where it has been introduced through human migrations. We used eleven mic...

Microsatellite-containing sequences were isolated from enriched genomic libraries of taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott). The sequencing of 269 clones yielded 77 inserts containing repeat motifs. The majority of these (81.7%) were dinucleotide or trinucleotide repeats. The GT/CA repeat motif was the most common, accounting for 42% of all repeat types. From a total of 43 primer pairs designed...

Taro [Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott] is a member of the Araceace family that is a staple food for many people in developing countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands. It is widely grown in Uganda but the extent of its production and consumption is not known, partly because it has been ignored as legitimate crop for research and development (R&D), and it is managed outside the conventi...

Human-Robot Interaction is a dynamic and expanding research field. This paper presents the creation and concepts of a semi-autonomous interactive robot, TARO. TARO is designed to humanoid in appearance, and can entertain and interact with people through verbal communication and body language.

Did the banana, yam and taro arrive in Australia at the hands of Europeans or come across the Torres Strait 2000 years before? Reviewing the evidence from herbaria histories and anthropology, the authors propose a ‘hierarchy of hypotheses’ and consider a still earlier option, that these food plants were potentially grown in Australia at least 8000 years ago, while it was still joined to New Gui...

Taro (Colocasia esculenta) is an important root crop in the humid tropics and a valuable source of essential mineral nutrients. In the presented study, we compared the mineral compositions of four main parts of taro corm: the upper, marginal, central and lower (basal) parts. The freeze-dried taro samples were analysed for eleven minerals (K, P, Mg, Ca, Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu, Cd, Pb and Cr). The upper ...

15-P022 Dynamics of cellular aggregation and differentiation during early development of transgenic crickets Taro Nakamura, Taro Mito, Masato Yoshizaki, Tetsuya Bando, Kimio Tanaka, Hideyo Ohuchi, Sumihare Noji Venture Business Laboratory, New Technology Research Section, Intellectual Property Office, The University of Tokushima, Tokushima City, Tokushima, Japan Department of Life System, Insti...

15-P022 Dynamics of cellular aggregation and differentiation during early development of transgenic crickets Taro Nakamura, Taro Mito, Masato Yoshizaki, Tetsuya Bando, Kimio Tanaka, Hideyo Ohuchi, Sumihare Noji Venture Business Laboratory, New Technology Research Section, Intellectual Property Office, The University of Tokushima, Tokushima City, Tokushima, Japan Department of Life System, Insti...