Warming turns global poor's staple into poison

SYDNEY: Cassava – the staple of 750 million impoverished people in Africa, Asia and Latin America – is turning more toxic with much smaller yields, thanks to global warming and carbon levels.

Monash University researcher Ros Gleadow and her team tested cassava and sorghum under a series of climate change scenarios to study the effect on plant nutritional quality and yield.

Both species belong to a group of plants that produce chemicals called cyanogenic glycosides, which break down to release lethal cyanide gas if the leaves are crushed or chewed.

The team grew cassava and sorghum at three different levels of CO2; just below today’s current atmospheric levels at 360 parts per million (ppm), at 550 ppm and double at 710 ppm. Current levels in the air are approximately 390 ppm.

Economic Times