Growth and Yield Component of Ethiopian White Fleshed Sweet Potato Varieties under Ridge and Flat Planting in Arba Minch Condition, Ethiopia

Abstract

In Ethiopia, sweet potato is grown by smallholder farmers and considered as one of the major food crop among root crops. It is mainly grown around a densely populated area in the South, Southwestern and Eastern parts of the country. Recently, there are many varieties released with varying potential from different centers of the country. The adoption of these varieties is in need to different areas of the country with adaptation and productivity trials being prior activities. Arba Minch is among the potential locations of the country for the production of root and tuber crops. Even if the crop have high potential for yield; the area coverage, yield and diversity of varieties in Arba Minch is much less than that of other locations known in sweet potato production. The present study is conducted to evaluate some of the Ethiopian white fleshed sweet potato varieties under Arba Minch condition. Five white fleshed sweet potato varieties (Berkume, Beletech, Tola, Awassa-83 and Hawassa-09) are tested with ridge and flat planting methods using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) in a factorial arrangement. Among the tested parameters, the interaction effect of varieties and planting method is statistically very highly significant (P<0.001) on number of nodes per vine and internode length. The effect of planting methods is statistically significant (P<0.05) on internode length and root weight per plant only. While considering varieties, all the parameters tested are significantly influenced by variety type. The highest emergency rate (91.33%) is recorded for variety A-83, while the lowest emergency rate (77.33%) is recorded for variety Berkume. The highest number of nodes per vine (55.67) and the tallest internodes length (9 cm) was recorded for Beletech and Berkume under ridge planting respectively. Similarly, variety Beletech showed tallest vine length (314.33 cm) than the other. The highest number of roots per plant (12.67) and highest mean root weight per plant (2.87 kg/plant) was recorded for variety Hawassa-09. Considering the economic parts, variety Hawassa-09 and variety Tola are recommended for Arba Minch area with ridge planting.