Responses of Ten Nigerian Manihot Spp to Transformation in Vitro

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz)is one of the staple food in Africa. The root tuber is rich in carbohydrate content but very poor in protein, vitamin and mineral composition. Over five million households in Africa depend on this starchy root crop for their daily nutrition. This has been traced to be one of the factors responsible for malnutrition cases among the poor rural dwellers. Bio-fortification of cassava roots with essential vitamins and minerals will help tremendously to address malnultrition problems associated with consumers of this product. This work is focussed on providing the needed panacea towards making Nigerian cassava genotypes amenable to Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation through the production of friable embryogenic callus (FEC) as target tissues for transgene insertion in cassava.