Abstracto
- Background. Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is an important staple crop in Mexico's traditional farming systems, and its genetic diversity offers largely unexplored potential. Understanding its bromatological variability is essential for designing strategies to integrate cassava into short food supply chains and differentiated value chains. Objective. To characterize the bromatological composition of Mexican cassava roots and to develop nutritional quality indices. Methodology. Twelve-month-old roots from 14 landraces were evaluated. Samples, processed in triplicate under a completely randomized design (CRD), were analyzed for moisture, dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), crude fiber (CF), ash, and nitrogen-free extract (NFE). Data were subjected to multivariate analysis (PCA, hierarchical clustering), followed by ANOVA and Tukey's test to compare groups. A nutritional quality index (NQI) was calculated based on PCA loadings. Results. PCA distinguished two bromatological axes: an energy-industrial axis associated with DM-NFE and a lipid-protein axis dominated by fat and CP. In addition, PCA indicated a compositional trade-off between the energy fraction (DM-NFE) and the mineral fraction (ash). Landraces MMVER03 and MMVER04 showed the highest NQI values, combining a balanced set of energy- and nutrient-related attributes, positioning them as dual-purpose materials with both food and agroindustrial potential. Implications. The observed variability is linked to genotype-environment interaction and metabolic differences among landraces; therefore, multi-environment testing is recommended to disentangle genetic and environmental effects. These findings underscore the value of incorporating bromatological analyses into characterization and selection programs as a basis for strengthening short supply chains, culinary innovation, and agroindustrial applications. Conclusions. The bromatological diversity of traditional Mexican cassava landraces is expressed as distinct combinations of proximal components, reflecting meaningful genotypic contrasts. The NQI synthesized this variability and supported the pre-selection of landraces with overall performance (particularly for human or animal consumption), avoiding single-trait approaches. These results provide technical criteria for the functional valorization of cassava and for designing selection strategies aligned with sustainable food and agroindustrial systems. © 2026, The authors. Work licensed under a CC-BY 4.0 License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
