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Taro (, US ) is a common name for several plants in the Araceae family which are used as vegetables for their corms (thickened underground stems), leaves, and leaf-stems (petioles). Of these, ''Colocasia esculenta'' is the most widely cultivated, and the way it is used is discussed here. More specifically, this article describes the "dasheen" form of taro; another variety of taro is known as ''eddoe''. ''Colocasia esculenta'' is thought to be native to Southern India and Southeast Asia, but is widely naturalised.〔Kolchaar, K. 2006 Economic Botany in the Tropics, Macmillan India〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=USDA GRIN Taxonomy )〕 It is a perennial, tropical plant primarily grown as a root vegetable for its edible starchy corm, and as a leaf vegetable. It is a food staple in African, Oceanic and South Indian cultures and is believed to have been one of the earliest cultivated plants.〔Country profile: Samoa, New Agriculturist Online (new-agri.co ), accessed June 12, 2006〕 ''Colocasia'' is thought to have originated in the Indomalaya ecozone, perhaps in East India and Bangladesh, and spread by cultivation eastward into Southeast Asia, East Asia and the Pacific Islands; westward to Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean Basin; and then southward and westward from there into East Africa and West Africa, whence to the Caribbean and Americas. It is known by many local names and often referred to as "elephant ears" when grown as an ornamental plant. ==Cultivation== Taro can be grown in paddy fields where water is abundant or in upland situations where water is supplied by rainfall or supplemental irrigation. Taro is one of the few crops (along with rice and lotus) that can be grown under flooded conditions. This is due to air spaces in the petiole, which permit underwater gaseous exchange with the atmosphere. For a maximum dissolved oxygen supply, the water should be cool and flowing. Warm, stagnant water causes basal rotting. For maximum yields, the water level should be controlled so that the base of the plant is always under water. Flooded cultivation has some advantages over dry-land cultivation: higher yields (about double), out-of-season production (which may result in higher prices), and weed control (which flooding facilitates). On the other hand, in flooded production systems taro requires a longer maturation period, investment in infrastructure, and higher operational costs, and monoculture is likely. Like most root crops, taro and eddoes do well in deep, moist or even swampy soils where the annual rainfall exceeds 2,500 mm. Eddoes are more resistant to drought and cold. The crop attains maturity within six to twelve months after planting in dry-land cultivation and after twelve to fifteen months in wetland cultivation. The crop is harvested when the plant height decreases and the leaves turn yellow. These signals are usually less distinct in flooded taro cultivation. Harvesting is usually done by hand tools, even in mechanized production systems. First, the soil around the corm is loosened, and then, the corm is pulled up by grabbing the base of the petioles. The global average yield is 6.2 tones/hectare but varies according to the region. In Asia, average yields reach 12.6 tones/hectare.〔(FAO: Taro cultivation in Asia and the Pacific, 1999 )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Taro」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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