Kasetsart 50 is the most important cassava cultivar in Thailand and probably the most important cultivar in the world. In 2006, this cultivar was planted covering 57 percent of cassava growing area in Thailand (about 633,700 ha). This cultivar also is grown extensively in Indonesia and Vietnam (under the name of KM 94).

        Characteristic  : It has high root yield and high root starch content with good germination and vigorous plant growth with wide adaptation. Yield data are shown in Table 1.

        Pedigree : Rayong 1 x Rayong 90

        Development : Jointly developed by Kasetsart University ; Department of Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and Centro International de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) and it was released officially in 1993.

Table 1  Yield and agronomic characters of a cassava cultivar, Kasetsart 50 as compared with Rayong 1. Data are averaged from 60 trials during 1987-1991.

From : Rojanaridpiched et al. (1992)

Table 2  Planted area and yield of Thai cassava cultivars in 2006.

From : Office of Agric.Econ. (2006)