MORPHO-PHYSIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF SWEETPOTATO (Ipomoea batatas L.) GENOTYPES

Abstract

The present study was carried out at the research farm of Crop Botany and Tea Production Technology Department at Sylhet Agricultural University, Sylhet during July to December 2013 to study the morphological features and yield of nine sweet potato genotypes to find out the most suitable ones. Among the genotypes, two were Bangladeshi namely BARI SP-7 and BARI SP-9 and the rest seven were Japanese genotypes viz. JSP-1, JSP-2, JSP-3, JSP-4, JSP-5, JSP-6 and JSP-7. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Completely Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Data on the morphological and growth studies were recorded at 20 days after planting (DAP) and yield parameters at final harvest. Results revealed that the morphological parameters viz. vine length, number of vine plant , diameter of main vine and yield contributing characteristics like number, length , diameter, fresh weight, dry weight of storage root, fresh and dry weight of vine, leaves and yield varied widely among the genotypes. From the observation it was found that the genotype that showed better results in regard to vegetative growth parameters their yields were low. The Japanese genotypes were grown vigorously but their production was poor. In vegetative characteristics BARI SP-9 produced the longest vine length, the highest vine number plant -1 1 which was comparatively lower than that of BARI SP-7. Poor growth in respect of vine length and number of vine plant which were 298.7 cm and 6.6 but yield was only 21.25 t ha -1 -1 was found in JSP-4 (140.7 cm) and JSP-1 (3.06). The genotype JSP-5 produced fresh weight, dry weight, number and diameter of storage roots plant were 2140 g, 585.36 g, 5, 3.27 cm, respectively but among the Japanese genotypes JSP-3 had number of vine, length, fresh weight and yield of storage roots 6.3, 9.67 cm, 2307 g and 19.22 t ha -1 respectively were which were comparatively better in terms of growth and yield. Among all the genotypes the maximum diameter, number, length, and yield of storage root recorded were 3.0 cm, 6.53, 10.8 and 22.83 t ha -1 -1 in BARI SP-7. The genotypes BARI SP-7 and JSP-3 were found suitable for their better growth and yield performance in acidic soils.