Adventitious roots of ‘Beauregard’ and ‘Georgia Jet’ sweetpotato were observed and anatomically characterized over a period of 60 days of storage root development. The majority of ‘Beauregard’ and ‘Georgia Jet’ adventitious roots sampled at 5 to 7 days after transplanting (DAT) possessed anatomical features (five or more protoxylem elements) associated with storage root development. The majority of ‘Beauregard’ (86%) and ‘Georgia Jet’ (89%) storage roots sampled at 60 to 65 DAT were traced directly to adventitious roots extant at 5 to 7 DAT. The two varieties, however, differed in the timing in which regular and anomalous cambia were formed. Regular vascular cambium development, i.e., initiation and completion, was observed in both varieties at 19 to 21 DAT. Formation of complete regular vascular cambium was negligible for ‘Beauregard’ (4%) in comparison with ‘Georgia Jet’ (32%) at 26 to 28 DAT. However, anomalous cambia development adjacent to xylem elements was greater in ‘Beauregard’ (30%) in comparison with ‘Georgia Jet’ (13%). Nearly 40% to 50% of samples in both varieties showed extensive lignification in the stele region. At 32 to 35 DAT, 62% to 70% of the adventitious roots for both varieties had either been initiated (developed anomalous cambium) or were lignified. The remaining adventitious roots showed intermediate stages of vascular cambium development. The adventitious root count increased up to 19 to 21 DAT and then remained constant up to 32 to 35 DAT. These accumulated results suggest that the initial stages of adventitious root development are critical in determining storage root set in sweetpotato.

The quantity and pattern of carbohydrate-related changes during storage root development differed among six sweetpotato cultivars [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Poir. `Beauregard', `Heart-o-Gold', `Jewel', `Rojo Blanco', `Travis', and `White Star']. Measurements were taken for individual sugars, total sugars, alcohol-insoluble solids (AIS, crude starch), and dry weight (DW) at 2-week intervals from 7 to 19 weeks after transplanting (WAT) in two separate years. Sucrose was the major sugar during all stages of development, representing at least 68% of total sugars across all cultivars and dates. Pairwise comparisons showed `Heart-o-Gold' had the highest sucrose content among the cultivars. Sucrose content increased by 56% for `Heart-o-Gold' over the 12 weeks of assay, ranking first among the cultivars at 17 and 19 WAT and possessing 27% more sucrose than the next highest ranking cultivar, `Jewel', at 19 WAT. Fructose content profiles varied among and within cultivars. `Beauregard' showed a consistent increase in fructose throughout development while `Whitestar' showed a consistent decrease. The other cultivars were inconsistent in their fructose content profiles. Glucose content profiles were similar to those for fructose changes during development. The relationship between monosaccharides was fructose = 0.7207 × glucose + 0.0241. Cultivars with the highest fructose and glucose content could be selected by breeders after 13 WAT. Early clonal selection for high sucrose and total sugars is less promising because substantive changes in clonal rank occurred for sucrose and total sugars after 15 WAT. Cultivars ranking the highest in total sugars had either more monosaccharides to compensate for a lower sucrose content or more sucrose to compensate for a lower monosaccharide content. The relationship between DW and AIS was similar (AIS = 0.00089 × DW), and DW and AIS increased with time for most cultivars. Cultivars with high DW and AIS can be selected early during storage root development.

Field experiments were conducted to assess how sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.] clones interfere with weeds and how clones tolerate weed interference. Eleven clones with architecturally different canopies were evaluated for yield, canopy surface area and dry mass, weed dry mass, and light interception at ground level. A 2-fold difference in ground area covered by canopy surface area was observed among the eleven clones 42 days after planting, and a 3-fold difference in canopy dry mass at harvest. Yields were reduced from 14% to 68% by weed interference. The yields of high-yielding clones, `Beauregard', `Excel', L87-125, `Regal', `Centennial', and W-274, were reduced to a significantly greater extent by weeds than were yields of the other five clones. No differences were observed between clones for weed suppression as measured by weed dry mass at harvest and ground light interception. Short-internode and long-internode clones had similar competitive abilities. Yield of high-yielding clones was impacted more by weed interference than was that of low-yielding clones.

Skinning injury in sweetpotatoes (Ipomoea batatas) is responsible for significant postharvest loss resulting from storage diseases and weight loss. Unfortunately, there is no report on the genes involved in wound healing of sweetpotato and a better understanding will facilitate improved breeding strategies. An annealing control primer (ACP) system was used to identify genes expressed after skinning injury of sweetpotato cultivar LA 07-146 storage roots. Using 20 ACPs, 63 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified. Functional annotation of the DEGs revealed that genes previously shown to respond to dehydration, those involved in wounding response, and the lignin and suberin biosynthesis pathways were induced in response to skinning. Expression analysis of 18 DEGs through quantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (PCR) showed that DEGs involved in lignin and suberin pathways were up-regulated after 8 and 12 hours of skinning. Other genes showed up- or down-regulation in their transcript abundance depending on the time the storage root was sampled after intentional skinning. The genes up-regulated in response to skinning may be useful to identify expression markers for screening sweetpotato lines tolerant to skinning injury in breeding programs.

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Additional index words. vegetable breeding, disease resistance, cultivar 'Orleans' sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.] was developed by the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station to provide an orange-fleshed, light rose-skinned cultivar similar to 'Beauregard' (Rolston et al., 1987) with superior storage root shape and disease resistance similar to 'Beauregard'. 'Orleans' produces excellent numbers of uniform plants. Days to harvest for 'Orleans' and 'Beauregard' are similar in the Gulf South production region. 'Orleans' in North Carolina appears competitive with other commercial cultivars; however, roots of 'Orleans' are too long in California to warrant production. The roots are elliptical and consistent in shape in varied soil types outside of California. Because it has superior shape, yields are equal to and mostly superior to 'Beauregard' for the U.S. #1 grade (5.1 to 8.9 cm diameter, 7.6 to 22.9 cm long) in Louisiana and other Gulf South states. Initially identified and evaluated as LA 05-111, the cultivar is named after the city of New Orleans. Origin 'Orleans' originated in 2005 as a seedling from an open-pollinated polycross nursery of the previous year. The female lineage is 'NC97A-04' from the North Carolina State University Sweetpotato Breeding Program. The female lineage derived from openpollinated nurseries is NC92-05, NC1528, and 'Regal', originally tested as W-152 (Jones et al., 1985).