Genome-enabled breeding of taro and other edible aroids: an evidence-based review

Edible aroids are clonally propagated crops in which genomic resources have accumulated faster than breeder-ready tools, with evidence concentrated in taro (Colocasia esculenta). We used a structured critical-review design with reproducible searches of PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science Core Collection from database inception to 14-16 July 2026 to assess when loci, assays, prediction models and clonal-health tools are sufficiently validated to change breeding decisions. After deduplication, 1,208 unique records remained, with auditable title/abstract decisions available for 853. The purposive analytic set contained 156 reports, including 104 with structured target-level extraction. Because 355 archive records lacked supplied decisions and 358 title/abstract-relevant records did not undergo structured full-text assessment, the corpus is not an exhaustive systematic review. Taro contributed 53 of the 104 detailed anchors; evidence for genomic prediction, gene editing and multi-environment adaptation was sparse. Deployment was defined by intended use, portable implementation and independent prospective validation. Route-specific gates distinguish discovery evidence from breeder-ready tools for marker-assisted selection, genomic prediction, editing and clonal-health delivery.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11032-026-01708-y.