Cassava, often called as ‘poor man’s food’ is considered
as the most important crop among the tropical tuber
crops. The crop is widely cultivated due to its adaptation
to small and marginal lands, drought tolerance and
comparatively affordable cost of cultivation. Apart from
its role as a staple/subsidiary food, during the past few
decades there has been growing recognition of the value
of cassava roots as a low cost energy source for livestock
and as a raw material for industrial starch and fuel
alcohol. It has a built in mechanism to avoid drought by
dropping its leaves temporarily. Drought stress can also
be managed by giving supplementary irrigation during
the drought periods. Dry matter production, crop
growth rate (CGR), tuber weight and yield were
significantly greater in cassava, when supplementary