Medina et al 2025: Inundación Mandioca Campañas 2021 a 2024. Datos promedios y desvíos estándar

Abstract

Cassava is an important crop for many developing countries. It is susceptible for many abiotic stresses, including flooding. Despite this, there is a little information about the effects of flooding on cassava. To evaluate the impact of flooding on the growth of cassava, six cultivars were evaluated in a greenhouse condition, in Corrientes, Argentina, during the growing seasons included between the years 2021 – 2024. The cultivars used were MCol 1505 (MC), Ramada Paso (RP), Campeona (CP), IAC 90 (I90), CA145 (CA), and CM3306-4 (CM), all maintained in the BGCTES germplasm bank (FCA UNNE/IBONE-CONICET-UNNE). Plants were regenerated in vitro and then grown in a controlled condition for four weeks before being transferred to a greenhouse for 14 weeks. After that, plants were flooded with water 3 cm above the substrate level for 18 days. The parameters evaluated were the dry weight of the aerial and root parts, percentage of dry matter, and dry matter loss caused by flooding. Results were analysed using ANOVA and Duncan's test. The study found no significant differences between cultivars but the effect of flooding treatment was observed in all cultivars. After 18 days of flooding, there was a significant decrease in shoot and root dry matter (between 55%-80% and 58%-75% of dry matter loss respectively) The RP cultivar was the least affected by flooding in terms of dry matter loss (55% dry matter loss in roots and 58% in shoots) and exhibited the highest dry matter retention. Moreover, the CM and I90 cultivars were the only ones to retain at least part of their tuberous roots after 18 days of flooding. The rest of cultivars (MC, CP, CA) had higher biomass loss and not retained tuberous roots. These results highlight the importance of deepening our understanding of the effects of flood-induced stress on a wide range of cassava cultivars, in order to establish crop management strategies for flooding events, as well as to inform future genetic improvement efforts.