ANTI-NUTRITIONAL CONSTITUENT OF COLOCASIA ESCULENTA ...

section of the study therefore investigates the nutritional and anti-nutritional status of
processed and unprocessed Amadumbe.
A.I.2 CohJcasiJl esculenta (Amadwnbe)
Amadumbe (Zulu name) belongs to the genus Colocasia, within the subfamily
Colocasioideae of the monocotyledonous family Araceae. Taro or cocoyam is the
common name for edIble aroids which are important staple foods in many parts of this
world (Chay-Prove and Goebel, 2004). Onwueme (1999) noted the problems arising from
the taxonomy of the genus Colocasia owing to its complicated vegetative propagation.
Purseglove (1972, cited in Onweume, 1999) identified two major botanical varieties:
i) Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott var. esculenta;
ii) Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott var. antiquorum (Schott) Hubbard & Rehder, which
IS synonymous with C. esculenta var. globulifera Engl. & Krause.
(a) Colocasia esculenta var. esculenta (b) Colocasia esculenta var. antiquorum
Figure AI-I: Diagram showing the differences in corm structnre between these two
botanical varieties (a) Colocasia esculenta var. esculenta (a) and
(b) Colocasia esculenta var. Antiquorum (Hawaiian kalo, 2007)
5