AGRO-MORPHOLOGICAL EVALUATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF HIGH MARKETABLE ROOT YIELDING SWEET POTATO (Ipomea batata L.)

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted in three diverse agroecological zones of Nigeria for two consecutive years to evaluate and identify high marketable root-yielding sweet potato accessions in Nigeria. The 21 sweet potato accessions used for the research were collected from various agroecological zones in Nigeria. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. Data were collected on main vine length (cm), number of branches per plant, number of leaves per plant (cm), petiole length (cm), number of marketable roots per plant, number of unmarketable roots per plant, marketable root length (cm), marketable root diameter (cm) and marketable root weight per plant (g) and analyzed using IRRI STAR software. The result shows that accessions from Offa (980.41 g) had the highest marketable root weight followed by Otukpo (801.76 g), Alero (790 g), Ilorin (730 g) and Suleja (720 g) respectively. It is recommended that accessions from Offa, Otukpo, Alero, Ilorin and Suleja should be used as donors in breeding programs for developing high root-yielding sweet potato cultivars and sweet potato growers should be using them as planting materials for high marketable root yield pending the time-improved varieties will be readily accessible to farmers from the concerned research bodies.