Evaluation of sweet potato landraces and cultivars for climate change resilience to drought
2015
E12103
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Title
Evaluation of sweet potato landraces and cultivars for climate change resilience to drought
Publication Date
2015
Call Number
E12103
Summary
The sweet potato, [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.], is an important staple food in the Caribbean and other sub-tropical and tropical regions. Food security is threatened in these developing countries particularly by drought brought about by climate change. It is felt that sweet potato can be a crop able to withstand drought and thus contribute to food security. Hence, this trial was implemented to determine drought resistant sweet potato landraces and cultivars. During the period 1 February to 3 June 2014, ten landraces and cultivars of sweet potato were evaluated at the Sugarcane Feeds Centre, in Central Trinidad. The trial was laid out in a randomised block with four replicates. The ten landraces and cultivars were Carrot, Certain, Chickenfoot (local control), John, Maggie, Margarita, Nina, O49, R368 and TIS9191. Data were recorded on the climate, plant morphological characters above ground, plant morphology below ground, storage root yield and pest occurrence. From the analyses of variance and correlations computed on the data after 3 months drought, it was concluded that the landrace, Certain, yielded the largest quantity of marketable storage roots (1.3 kg per plot, P<0.001), the highest mean weight of fresh biomass per hill (2.6 kg, P<0.001), the largest number of leaves (110, P<0.001) and the longest adventitious roots (28.3 cm, P=0.003) per hill. Margarita, Carrot and O49 also exhibited drought tolerance, but at a lower level than Certain. Also, fresh biomass yields at 3 and 4 months after planting were good indicators of final storage root yields in the dry season sweet potato crop.
Journal Citation
14:13-21, CARDI Review
Contact Information
harvest@worldveg.org
Record Appears in
Research > Published Articles