Elephant foot yam is a tropical tuber crop originating from Asia and Africa. It is commercially cultivated in several Southeast Asian countries as well as India. The document discusses the botany, varieties, cultivation practices, pests and diseases of elephant foot yam. Key points include that it grows from a corm and is propagated through daughter corms. It prefers sandy loam soil and humid tropical conditions. Common varieties include Santragachi and Kovvur. Proper spacing, fertilization, irrigation, and intercropping can yield 12-22 tonnes per hectare. Pests include aphids and diseases include collar rot.

1. Elephant Foot Yam
SUBMITTED TO-
Dr. Parveen Sharma
Associate Professor
Vegetable Science &
Floriculture

2. Introduction
 Common name – Elephant-foot-yam, Suran,
Amorphophallus, Kuch, Jimmikand.
 Botanical name – Amorphophallus campanulatus
Amorphophallus paeoniifolius
 Origin – Tropical Asia and Africa (India & Sri Lanka)

3. Continued.....
 It is a highly potential tropical tuber crop.
 In India, it has attained the status of a cash crop and the area
under its cultivation is increasing fast.
 This crop also offers excellent export potential from India,
since it is not generally cultivated commercially in other
countries.
 The crop is gaining popularity due to its shade tolerance,
easiness in cultivation, high productivity, less incidence of
pests and diseases, steady demand and reasonably good price.

4. Distribution
 It has now become a very popular vegetable in certain
areas of the tropical and subtropical regions.
 It is a crop of South-East Asian origin, growing wild in the
Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia and South-eastern
Asian countries.
 It is commercially grown in India, Sri Lanka, China,
Malaysia, Java, Philippines and Ceylon.
 In India, it is cultivated on large scale in Andhra Pradesh,
Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal.

5. Area & Production
Area (‘000 ha) Production (‘000
tonne)
10 266
Horticultural Statistics At A Glance, 2015

6. Composition
 Amorphophallus is a cheap source of carbohydrates and
rich in minerals and vitamin A & B.
 The corms of wild types contain crystals of calcium
oxalate on account of which they are highly irritant. In
cultivated types, these are less abundant.

7. Composition of Amorphophallus Corm
(per 100g of edible portion)
Moisture 78.7 g Phosphorus 34 mg
Protein 1.2 g Iron 0.6 mg
Fat 0.1 g Vitamin A 434 I.U.
Carbohydrates 18.4 g Riboflavin 0.07 mg
Minerals 0.8 g Thiamine 0.06 mg
Calcium 50 mg Nicotinic acid 0.7 mg

8. Uses
Corm as a vegetable.
Preparing curries and pickles.
Ayurvedic preparations - recommended for the cure of
piles, dysentery, asthma, swelling of lungs, vomiting,
abdominal pain and as blood purifier.
Petioles - cooked as vegetables.

9. Origin and Taxonomy
 The genus Amorphophallus consists of about 90 species
indigenous to tropical Asia and Africa.
 About 14 species which occur in India.
 Cultivated for their underground modified stem known as
corm.
 Family – Araceae
 Chromosome number – 28
 Partial pollen fertility.

10. Botany
 Amorphophallus – either a perennial or an annual herb.
 Petioles are smooth or warty and variously spotted.
 Simple blade – 3 parted
 Long spadix
 Spathe is funnel or bell-shaped at the base, springing from the
great bulb like corm in advance of the leaves.
 Flowers have disagreeable odour which is supposed to attract
carrion loving insects, which pollinate the flowers and bring
about the production of seeds.

13. Flower

14. Cultivar
Santragachi
Kovvur
• Vigorous growth habit
• Corms having slight acridity
• Rough corms with light cream colour
• Bear several daughter corms
• Grown commercially in Eastern India
• Yield about 50-70 tonnes per hectare
• High yielding cultivar
• Vigorous growth habit
• Smooth corms without acridity
• Free from daughter corms
• Grown commercially in the South India
• Corm yield exceeds 100 tonnes per hectare

15. Continued.....
 Sree Padma – Non-acrid tubers, generally have one mother corm
and a few cormels. Variety has developed at CTCRI, Trivandrum.
It has a yield potential of 40 tonnes per hectare.
 Sree Athira – First genetically improved variety with very good
cooking quality.
 Bidhan Kusum – This variety was developed by Vidhan Chandra
Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal.
 Palam Zimikand-1 – Released from C.S.K.H.P.K.V., Palampur.

16.  At the Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI),
Trivandrum, there are 45 genetic stock of Amorphophallus
and Am-6, Am-7, Am-8 and Am-16 were found
promising.

17. Soil
 Deep sandy-loam soils rich in nutrient is considered the best
for high corm production of Amorphophallus.
 Since corms are highly susceptible to poor drainage
conditions, these need well drained and well aerated soil.
 The growth of corms in heavy soil is very much restricted and
is reflected on the production.
 Soils with higher amount of clay or silt should be amended by
incorporating organic matter or compost.
 Waterlogging is detrimental during any phase of growth.
 pH range of 5.5-7.0 is preferred.

18. Climate
 It is a tropical and subtropical crop.
 It requires a well distributed rainfall of 1000-1500 mm, humid and
warm weather with a temperature of 25-35°C during vegetative
growth.
 Hot and humid climate is required at initial stages of the crop for its
vigorous growth, whereas dry climates facilitate tuber bulking at
later stage.

19. Propagation
 It is usually propagated by offsets of corms.
 These offsets are the miniature tubers which grow out of
the parent corms and are called buds or daughter corms.
 These are initially about 20-25 g each and take about three
to four seasons to develop into corms weighing 8-10 kg
each.

20. Planting Material
 Initial size of planting material plays most significant role in
determining the final size of the harvested tubers.
 Planting material is placed vertically in the pit.
 Result of research showed that 400-500 g size whole tubers were
more suitable for raising a commercial crop.
 Tubers of 3-4 kg can be harvested after six to seven months. This
size is most suitable from marketing and transport point of view.
 Cut tubers of 50-100 g sizes are used for producing the planting
material of 500-1000 g sizes.
 Although cut tubers can also be used as planting material, the use
of whole tuber is significantly superior over cut tubers in terms of
sprouting percentage and overall yield.

21. Minisetts Technique for Quality
Planting Materials
 Minisetts weighing 100g each can be planted directly in
nursery beds or in the main field with the central bud portion
facing up at a spacing of 60 cm × 45 cm.
 A total of 37,000 minisetts/ha is required as against 12,345
setts/ha in the traditional method.
 Multiplication ratio in elephant foot yam could be enhanced to
1:15 as against the conventional 1:3 by adopting minisett
technique.

22. Land Preparation
 The land is prepared by ploughing twice or thrice to a depth of 20-
22 cm followed by making pits of size 60 x 60 x 45 cm at a spacing
of 90 x 90 cm during February.
 The pits are filled up with sufficient amount of rotted FYM or cow
dung.
 The crop is also grown on flat beds or broad ridges.
 FYM @ 30 tonnes per hectare
 However, the crop grown on ridges gives better yield than in flat
beds.
 Broad ridge method is generally practised in high rainfall areas.

23. Planting
South India – February-March
Eastern and other parts of the country – March-April
provided irrigation facilities are ensured as the crop needs
irrigation during the summer months.
Spacing
The planting should be done at 90 × 90 cm spacing for
commercial crop.

24. Manuring and Fertilization
Well-decomposed FYM or compost is applied @ 25-40 tonnes per
hectare.
80:60:80 kg/ha of N:P:K is ideal for commercial crop.
Fertilizer should be applied in split doses. The first application at
planting with full dose of P and half of N and K in the pits along
with FYM helps in the rapid development at the early stage.
The second application of remaining dose of N and K should be
done 60-70 days after emergence of shoot.
It should be followed by earthing up for better bulking of the corm
and good drainage.

25. Irrigation and Interculture
 Amorphophallus is mainly grown as a rainfed crop. During periods
of late receipt of monsoon, a light irrigation is given during early
stages of crop.
 Mulching immediately after planting is the most important
operation in Amorpohophallus.
 When the crop approaches maturity, irrigation should be light.
 Generally, the crop requires 2-3 weedings before the onset of
monsoon.
 Preplanting application of Fluchloralin @ 2.0 L per hectare can
replace hand weeding.

26. Intercropping
 During the initial period of 2-3 months after planting,
crops like leafy vegetables, green gram, black gram,
cowpea, cucumber, etc; can be grown as an inter-crop.
 Intercropping of elephant foot yam in banana, coconut and
other newly planted orchards gives additional income to
farmers.

29. Harvesting
 The crop is harvested after 6-7 months from planting.
 Yellowing and drooping down of the leaves are the signs of
maturity of the crop.
 The crop can be harvested earlier before full maturity for early
market and higher price.
 The corms can be retained in the soil even after full maturity.
 It can be stored for several months in well-ventilated rooms without
any damage.
 It is better to harvest the crop at right stage, as the rate of loss of
moisture from the corms for the first 4 days is about 3-4% per day,
the total extending to even 25% or more in the first month of
storage.

30. Yield
 The average corm yield ranges from 12 to 22 tonnes per
hectare, depending on the weight of seed corm, soil type
and nutrition applied.

31. Whole Seed Corm Production
 Inadequate supply of planting material is a major constraint in
extending the cultivation of elephant foot yam.
 South Indian smooth type which is of good quality and
commercially acceptable, does not produce daughter corms
necessary for rapid multiplication (although plenty of daughter
corms arise in local irritating type).
 The improved type is usually propagated by cutting large corms in
small pieces for planting.
 The cut corms may fail to sprout due to dehydration at high
temperature prevailing during the planting season and rotting
caused by infection of fungus and bacteria.

32.  These hazards can be avoided by planting whole seed corms which
not only sprout early and show better growth rate but also produces
higher corm yield as compared to cut seed corms of same weight.
 The whole seed corm can be produced by planting mini corm setts
obtained from apical portion of mother corm which sprouts readily.
 For obtaining desirable size of seed corm, 100 g setts should be
planted at a distance of 30×30 cm.
 The basal portion of the seed corm is not commonly used as
planting material due to low percentage of sprouting.
 The fully matured seed corms are lifted from the ground when the
leaves turn yellow or become dry, particularly in the month of
November.

33.  Whole seed corm thus produced from about 0.15 ha in nursery bed
is sufficient for planting on 1 ha of land.
 The corm sett requirement per hectare is about 100 q which
ultimately increases to 500 to 600 q/ha at the end of the season.

34. Storage
 Harvested corms are cleaned and spread out under a shade
cover for two days prior to storage, which helps in healing the
injuries and bruises on the corm.
 The corms could be safely stored on racks in well-ventilated
storehouse facilitating diffused light.
 If corms are to be stored for seed purpose, the cut corms
should be immediately treated with Mancozeb (0.2%).
 If the storage is for planting purpose, the corms should be
treated with Fenitrothion (0.05%) + Mancozeb (0.2%).

35. Fungal Disease
Collar Rot / Foot Rot
Causal organism - Sclerotium rolfsii
Rhizoctonia solani.
 Symptoms – It appears when the plant is about 2-3 months old.
Collar region is attacked by the pathogen.
Water soaked lesions appear on the stem.
The whole plant soon turns yellow.
Stem shrinks and collapses due to rotting of the collar region.
 Causes – Heavy rains and high relative humidity
Heavy soils, high organic matter and poor drainage.
 Control – Crop rotation, removal of plant debris.
Improvement of drainage.
Apply biocontrol agents like Trichoderma harzianum @ 2.5 kg/ha
mixed with 50 kg of FYM.
Drenching soil with Captan (0.2%) or Brasicol (0.1%) .

36. Viral disease

37. Mosaic
 Vector – Aphids (Myzus persicae, Aphis gossypii)
 Symptom – Mosaic mottling on the leaves.
Distortion of leaf lamina.
More proliferation of lateral buds.
Separation of buds from the mother corms.
Poor growth of roots.
Small corms are produced.
 Control - Since the crop is vegetatively propagated, corms from
healthy plants should be used for seed purpose.
Rouging of infected plants will help in minimising the
secondary spread.
Spraying of systemic insecticides to prevent secondary spread.

38. Insect-Pests
 Aphids
 Spider-mites
 Thrips
 Caterpillars
 Mealy bugs – Control – Use of pest-free seed corms.
If mealy bug infestation is noted during
storage of seed corms, dipping in 0.05%
Monocrotophos should be done to check
the pest in field.

39. Thank
You.......