Agronomic performance of sweet cassava cultivars

ABSTRACT Brazilian sweet cassava consumers are becoming more and more demanding in relation to sanitary conditions, organoleptic and nutritional characteristics of this vegetable products and their derivatives. Thus, more nutritious, early, productive, adapted to mechanized planting and good culinary quality sweet cassava cultivars were developed. This study aimed, therefore, to evaluate the performance of four sweet cassava cultivars in Uberaba, in Triângulo Mineiro region. The experiments were carried out in the experimental field of Faculdades Associadas de Uberaba (FAZU) during two harvest seasons. We adopted a randomized block design with three replicates, each plot consisting of four lines with ten plants. Trait averages were grouped by the Scott & Knott test. The results showed that cultivars BRS 399, BRS 397 and IAC 576-70 have potential to be grown in the region, since they showed root yield higher than 32 t ha-1 and up to 30-minute cooking time. BRS 399 stood out for its performance, showing root yield of 37 t ha-1 and 48 t ha-1 in 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 harvest seasons, respectively, with short-time cooking and presenting shoot productivities which allow its use even as animal feed.