The presenters that shared their mana’o in our Biology class have given me a lot of knowledge about taro plants. Our first presenter, Dr. Miyasaka, taught us about taro leaf blight, an epidemic that destroys the taro leaf. Common symptoms are water spots on the leaves. The spots start on the outside of the leaf and works its way towards the middle. Some possible solutions are genetic engineering and selective breeding (artificial selection). With genetic engineering, we can transfer disease resistance genes into the taro, thus making it less susceptible to TLB. If we transfer oxalate oxidase genes into the taro it will break down oxalate into hydrogen peroxide, thus making the taro disease resistant. Another possible solution to this problem is conventional breeding. We can breed the taro with other taro that has the qualities we desire. Through artificial selection, we can create a disease resistant taro in this manner. Using this method is not as accurate because when you breed two different types of taro together you don’t know which qualities you will get. But once you get your desired qualities, you can continue to breed the taro through asexual breeding so they stay uniform. The three taro varieties with the highest resistance to TLB are Ele’ele Makkoko, Hapuu, and Kalalau. This is important because if we are going to breed through conventional breeding we should breed the taro that has a high resistance to TLB.
Our second presenter, Mr. Bernabe, talked about pollenating taro to create different varieties. He said that they take the male pollen and put it in the female pollen. Within a couple days the seeds become pollinated and it gives off hundreds of seeds that you can plant. He also talked about the history of taro. He said that in ancient times, Hawaiians would modify the taro to their benefit. Back then, there was roughly 300 different species of taro. Today, there is less than half that. He also discussed cross breeding taro to create a disease resistant super kalo.
The two presenters related to what we learned in Biology class because they talked about evolution in kalo. In class we learned about artificial selection, breeding to get the traits you desire. This relates to the taro because farmers use artificial selection to rid of all the bad viruses such as TLB. TLB is like a pathogen, a virus that hurts the leaves of the taro. This is similar to what we learned about pathogens affecting the immune system. We also learned about different forms of reproduction, similar to the reproduction process that involves pollenating taro.
Our second presenter, Mr. Bernabe, talked about pollenating taro to create different varieties. He said that they take the male pollen and put it in the female pollen. Within a couple days the seeds become pollinated and it gives off hundreds of seeds that you can plant. He also talked about the history of taro. He said that in ancient times, Hawaiians would modify the taro to their benefit. Back then, there was roughly 300 different species of taro. Today, there is less than half that. He also discussed cross breeding taro to create a disease resistant super kalo.
The two presenters related to what we learned in Biology class because they talked about evolution in kalo. In class we learned about artificial selection, breeding to get the traits you desire. This relates to the taro because farmers use artificial selection to rid of all the bad viruses such as TLB. TLB is like a pathogen, a virus that hurts the leaves of the taro. This is similar to what we learned about pathogens affecting the immune system. We also learned about different forms of reproduction, similar to the reproduction process that involves pollenating taro.
RSS Feed