**2.4. Yellow sweet cassava (***Manihot esculenta***)**

The manioc plant (*Manihot esculenta*, Crantz) belongs to the Euphorbiaceae family being native to South America, cultivated by the Indians responsible for its dissemination. The Portuguese spread it to other continents, especially Africa and Asia The plant is a bush of bulky roots, leaves petiolated and yellowish chalice flowers, arranged in panicles. Its tubercle is also known as cassava, aipim, castelinha, macacheira, cassava, sweet cassava, and cassava according to the regions where it is cultivated [13].

In Brazil, there are about 1200 varieties, classified as bitter or sweet according to its hydrocyanic acid content. Originated from South America, manioc (*Manihot esculenta*, Crantz), present in the indigenous culture and other ancient populations, has its historical importance because it has been the main energetic source for several generations of these peoples. It is still one of the main energy foods in the African, Latin American, and Asian continents, to about 500 million people, especially in developing countries [39].

Cassava is easily adapted to different types of soil and climate, usually grown on a small scale with little or no technology adoption, basically using family workers. In the case of Brazil, it is widespread throughout the region bounded by the geographic tropics. The world production has increased over the last decades, due to factors such as genetic improvement, use of technology in planting, and expansion of cultivated areas. However, the expansion of the areas remains centralized in the countries that have a tradition in the planting of this culture [3, 40].

**3. Conclusions**

the world [46, 47].

**Acknowledgements**

**Conflict of interest**

**Author details**

**References**

There is no interest conflicts.

Lucia Maria Jaeger de Carvalho<sup>1</sup>

José Luiz Viana de Carvalho2

Network and Harvest*Plus* for the financial support.

\*Address all correspondence to: luciajaeger@gmail.com

2 Embrapa, Food Technology, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

[2] Tswett M. Ber. Deutsch. Chem. Ges. 1911;**45**:1124

Janeiro Rural Federal University; 2006

399p. ISBN 978-0-306-48209-0

The evaluation of β and α-carotene and total carotenoids content in cultivars, accesses, biofortified, and landraces of sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and yellow sweet and bitter cassava is very important to obtain plant raw materials with high contents of carotenoids that can be used for cultivation and minimize hunger in the low-income populations of all ages around

The authors wish to thank the Carlos Chagas Filho, Embrapa – Food Technology, BioFORT

\*, Gisela Maria Dellamora Ortiz1

[1] Frank HA, Young AJ, Britton G, Cogdell RJ. The Photochemistry of Carotenoids. New York, Boston, Dordrecht, London, Moscow: Kluwer Academic Publishers; 2004.

[3] Oliveira ARG. Thesis. Avaliação e estudo da retenção de carotenoides totais e β-caroteno em mandioca amarela mansa e brava [Evaluation and retention study of total carotenoids and β-carotene in yellow sweet and bitter cassava [thesis]]. Rio de Janeiro: Rio de

[4] Rodriguez-Amaya D, Kimura M. HarvestPlus Handbook for Carotenoid Analysis. Harvest*Plus* Technical Monograph. Washington, DC and Cali: IFPRI and CIAT; 2004. 58

p. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/…/tech02.pdf

1 Faculty of Pharmacy, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

and Alcides Ricardo Gomes de Oliveira1

,

Carotenoids in Raw Plant Materials

115

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.78677

The economies of African countries, the largest producer continent, and Latin America are based on the exploitation of the primary sector. Therefore, countries seek to increase production of crops that are strategic for maintaining the economy and serving the domestic market, raising production more than in other continents (Africa) or maintaining production (Latin America) in the last decades. On the other hand, Thailand, located on the second largest cassava (Asian) producer continent, is the largest cassava root exporting country.

The African continent, the world's largest producer of cassava roots, does not have countries that excel in the export trade of the product, prevailing the service in the domestic market, indicating that the crop is produced mainly by small producers, in precarious production systems, with little or no application of modern management and fertilization technology. Brazilian production stood out among the 80 cassava producing countries, reaching around 13% of world production [41], demonstrating that there is still room for growth of Brazilian production if modernization of plantation using technology and improvement is implemented. Ten states produced about 80% of the Brazilian production, with Pará and Bahia accounting for 36% of this total and Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Maranhão, 26%. The other five: Amazonas, Minas Gerais, Ceará, São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul contributed 18% of this production [41]. Overall, 62% of the national production comes from the North and Northeast regions. Brazil has encouraged the production and commercialization of agricultural products inside the country, through government financing programs such as the National Family Agriculture Program (PRONAF). This program is based on support for rural development, on the strengthening of family agriculture and its organizations, for example, cooperatives, as a segment that generates jobs, incomes, and increases the nutritional quality of these populations [42].

In the last 10 years, efforts were made to identify new varieties of able yellow cassava to improve the nutritional quality for the populations with malnutrition problems, situated in the tropics, particularly in the Brazilian northeast, where the cassava constitutes one of the main cultivations and almost the only source of nutrients. The cassava culture of yellow coloration can be an excellent source of carotenoids, precursors of vitamin A such as α and β-carotene.

The total and α and β-carotene in raw varieties of bitter and sweet yellow cassava as well as in cooked ones were evaluated by Oliveira et al. [40]. A total of 28 varieties were analyzed: 12 in bitter, 11 in sweet yellow cassava, and 5 other varieties of bitter yellow cassava. The variability among the varieties of bitter yellow cassava revealed higher total carotenoids content compared to sweet yellow ones. However, the proportion of β-carotene in relation to the total carotenoids content was larger in the varieties of sweet yellow cassava. The bitter yellow cassava roots presented a variation in the total carotenoid content from 1.97 to 16.33 μg g−1 and β-carotene from 1.37 to 7.66 μg g−1, respectively. The isomers 13, 9-Z and all-*trans*-β-carotene were found in all varieties, being all-E-β-carotene the most abundant one [43–45].
