<div style="text-align: justify;">Taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) is one of the important underground vegetable crops grows vegetatively in various parts of India as well as in Africa. But there are few standard cultivars available for commercial cultivation and local germplasms across various parts of the world have a lot of genetic variation. For any crop improvement programme, aimed to achieve maximum productivity, a detailed knowledge of facts such as genetic variability, genetic diversity, heritability, genetic advance, correlation and path coefficient of various quantitative traits and their contribution towards yield is essential. Studies in this direction are very less and can not to be generalized for every climatic condition and with other genetic materials. Hence, the information in a collection of some indigenous genotypes of taro in order to formulate a sound breeding plan for its improvement has been reviewed here.</div>

Genetic diversity among taro (<em>Colocasia esculenta </em>(L.) Schott var.<em> antiquorum</em>) germplasm- A review

<p style="text-align: justify;">The present study appraises different traditional feeding practices followed by farmers and effect of dietary zinc supplementation on the reproductive and productive performances of crossbred Andaman local pigs. In the 1st experiment the effect of three feeding practices were evaluated and in the 2nd experiment the effect of supplementation of 80 ppm Zn on growth of weanling piglets were evaluated. The locally available feed ingredients like rice bran, taro (Colocasia esculenta) leaves, broken rice, broken wheat, maize, and coconut cake were used in different proportion for feeding. The different reproductive parameters like the mean age at puberty, age at first conception and first farrowing and various litter traits varied significantly (&lt;0.01) among the three treatment groups. In the next experiment the effect of Zn supplementation on post weaning growth performances of piglets were studied. &nbsp;In treatment group (n=5) &nbsp; 80 ppm Zn was supplemented along with normal farm diet where as in control group (n=5) &nbsp;normal diet was given. &nbsp;The experiment continued for three months. The results showed that the sow receiving the ration made up of coconut cake, broken rice or maize performed better than the sow receiving ration made up of colocasia leaves and rice bran in respect of reproductive performances. Similarly, inclusion of 80 ppm Zn in &nbsp;stater ration &nbsp;enhanced the daily body weight.&nbsp;</p>


Genetic diversity among taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott var. antiquorum) germplasm- A review

Reproductive and productive performances of crossbred Andaman local pigs under small holder production system at Bay Islands, India