Skip to main content


Cassava (Manihot esculenta)

Ketela pohon or castilla or ubi kayu or singkong or cassava or Manihot utilissima (Manihot esculenta) is a tropical and subtropical annual shrub in Euphorbiaceae, widely known as a staple food producing carbohydrates and leaves as vegetables.

M. esculenta can grow as high as 7 meters and little branch, taproot with number of enlarged branch roots to be bulbs to be eaten. Root tuber has a diameter of 4-6 cm and a length of 50-80 cm depending on the cultivar, brown and reddish, the inside is white or yellowish.

Dlium Cassava (Manihot esculenta)

Cassava tubers will not last long even in the cool room. Symptoms of damage are marked in blue due to the formation of cyanide acid which is toxic to humans. Tubers are a source of energy that is rich in carbohydrates but very poor in protein. A good source of protein on leaves containing amino methionine.

Increased ketela pohon cultivation is in line with the rapid population growth and stagnation of rice and wheat production. Bulbs are an additional food source and have become one of the main foodstuffs in many of the world. Castilla can be eaten raw where the main content is starch with a little glucose so it is rather sweet.

In certain circumstances, especially when oxidized, toxic glucosides will form as cyanide acid (HCN) and give a bitter taste. Sweet bulbs have at least 20 mg HCN per kilogram while bitter tubers have at least 50 times more depending on the content of hydrocyanic acid in the roots.

Ubi kayu is cooked in various ways, widely used in a variety of dishes. Boiled to replace potatoes and complementary dishes. Cassava flour is used to replace wheat flour and is suitable for people with gluten allergies.

Leaves for fresh or cooked salads for a variety of dishes, while tuber skin for animal feed. Ubi kayu after harvesting is usually peeled to be dried under the hot sun to be processed into tapioca flour or starch as raw material for various foods, chewing gum, glue, textile industry and furniture.







Nutritional content of singkong per 100 grams includes 121 cal calories, 62.50 grams of water, 40.00 grams of phosphorus, 34.00 grams of carbohydrates, 33.00 milligrams of calcium, 30.00 milligrams of vitamin C, 1.20 grams of protein, iron 0.70 milligrams, 0.30 grams of fat and 0.01 B mg of vitamin B1. Leaves have a protein content of 6.9 grams, 165 mg calcium, 54 mg phosphorus, 2 mg iron, Vitamin A 11000 IU and Vitamin C 275 mg.

Currently there are 10 M. esculenta varieties on the market which are grouped into food and industry. Varieties for food include N1 Mekarmanik, Adira 1, Malang 1, Malang 2, while industrial varieties include N1 Mekarmanik, Adira 2, Adira 4, Malang 4, Malang 6, UJ 5 and UJ 3.

Varieties for food have a pulverized tuber texture with HCN levels of less than 50 milligrams per kilogram and have a non-bitter taste, while for industries it has a starch content or dry content of about 0.6 grams per kilogram.

World cassava production is estimated to reach 192 million tons in 2004 with Nigeria 52.4 million tons, Brazil 25.4 million tons, Indonesia 24.1 million tons, Thailand 21.9 million tons (FAO, 2004). Most of the production is produced in Africa 99.1 million tons and 33.2 million tons in Latin America and the Caribbean Islands.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Subfamily: Crotonoideae
Tribe: Manihoteae
Genus: Manihot
Species: Manihot esculenta
Varieties: Manihot utilissima var. castellana

Popular Posts

A deep-sea isopod Bathyopsurus nybelini adapted to feed submerged Sargassum algae

NEWS - Incredible footage shows a marine species, Bathyopsurus nybelini , feeding on something that sinks from the ocean’s surface. Researchers using the submersible Alvin found the isopod swimming 3.7 miles down using its paddle-like legs to catch an unexpected food source: Sargassum. Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the University of Montana, SUNY Geneseo, Willamette University and the University of Rhode Island found the algae sinking, while the isopod waited and adapted specifically to find and feed on the sinking nutrient source. The Sargassum lives on the surface for photosynthesis. The discovery of a deep-sea animal that relies on food that sinks from the waters miles above underscores the close relationship between the surface and the deep. “It’s fascinating to see this beautiful animal actively interacting with sargassum, so deep in the ocean. This isopod is extremely rare; only a handful of specimens were collected during the groundbreaking Swedis

Ngamugawi wirnagarri reveals evolution of coelacanth fish and history of life on earth

NEWS - An ancient Devonian coelacanth has been remarkably well preserved in a remote location in Western Australia linked to increased tectonic activity. An international team of researchers analysed fossils of the primitive fish from the Gogo Formation of Ngamugawi wirngarri , which straddles a key transition period in the history of coelacanths, between the most primitive and more modern forms. The new fish species adds to the evidence for Earth’s evolutionary journey. Climate change, asteroid strikes and plate tectonics are all key subjects in the origins and extinctions of animals that played a major role in evolution. Is the world’s oldest ‘living fossil’ the coelacanth still evolving? “We found that plate tectonic activity had a major influence on the rate of coelacanth evolution. New species are more likely to have evolved during periods of increased tectonic activity when new habitats were divided and created,” says Alice Clement of Flinders University in Adelaide. The Late Dev

Integrative taxonomy reveals presence a new species West African mane jelly (Cyanea altafissura)

NEWS - A new species of Cyanea is described from samples collected in the Gulf of Guinea during 2017-2019. The species is a member of the nozakii group that has discontinuous radial septa and is characterized by, among other things, deeper rhopalial than velar marginal clefts, uniform papillose exumbrella, up to 200 tentacles per cluster and a dense network of anastomosing canals in a broad quadrate fold. West African mane jelly ( Cyanea altafissura ) can be genetically distinguished from relatives in the ITS1 and COI regions as confirmed by several phylogenies and other analyses. This is the first record of a member of the nozakii group in the Atlantic Ocean and the first description of a genus Cyanea from the west coast of Africa and the tropical Atlantic Ocean. Cyanea PĂ©ron & Lesueur (1810) currently includes 17 species and is the second largest number of valid and recognized species in the Semaeostomeae of Agassiz (1862), after Aurelia Lamarck (1816). Both genera are rarely re