A total of 39 sweet potato genotypes (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) were grown at Malaysia Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), Industrial Crop Research Centre, in Bachok, Kelantan. The aim of the study is to classify sweet potato germplasm for a future breeding programme in Malaysia. Twenty-seven phenotypic characters were graded using the International Potato Centre (CIP) using standard sweet potato descriptors. The principal components analysis (PCA) was performed to identify the main characteristics to be used in phenotyping. PC1, PC2 and PC3 had eigen value of more than 1.0 and accounted for roughly 78.00 % of all the morphological characters. The scree plot clearly shows that the semi-curved line was obtained for vine characters with a high variability of 95.14 %, with a cumulative variability of 89.36 % for leaf and 89.78 % for root characters. These 39 genotypes can be classified into 3 classes. Factor analysis revealed that the main plant habit characteristics in the first group were ground cover, plant type, twining and internode vine length and tip pubescence. The general leaf outline, the form of the leaf lobe, the number of leaf lobes and the shape of the central leaf lobe were the second groups. In the third group, the primary and secondary colours of the skin, as well as the flesh, were two of the storage root's major characteristics. Genotypes with these characteristics can be helpful in determining the appropriate requirements and goals for sweet potato enhancement in breeding strategies. It can also be used to document sweet potato germplasm for passport purposes. HIGHLIGHTS The phenotypic diversity for important morpho-agronomic traits, which are not known, typically shows important traits of interest to plant breeders The PCA was used to evaluate the morphological traits that differentiated among the sweet potato genotypes The findings provide information for researchers, especially breeders, to use in improving sweet potato genetics by defining traits that can be suggested for improving specific traits such as yield and other agronomic traits that contributed to yield
Mechanization has been the solution to counter issue such as labor shortage and low production rate on field in the agricultural sector. Adaptation of mechanization system could lower the cost of production, improve quality and also reduce the tedious work of labor. Current practice, which contributes to high cost in labor since the job requires a lot of man power. MARDI has developed a complete machinery package for sweet potato production from land preparation until harvesting. One of the important activities that require an implementation of machinery aspect is ridge forming. This activity is essential due to the height of the ridge influences the yield. It is believed that the higher the ridge will contribute, to more aeration and thus, produce higher yields. In this manuscript, the authors report on the development and evaluation of the disc ridger. It is believed that this implement is capable to be used as ridge forming as well as inter-row cultivator. This tractor-mounted implement was designed with two units of high quality steel discs which is attached to the frame with disc diameter and thickness of 720 mm and 6 mm respectively. This disc ridger is able to form either a single row or double row planting ridges to suit with the desired planting system for sweet potato. This is due to the location of the discs at the frame which is adjustable. Furthermore, this implement also can be employed as an inter-row cultivator for weeding control of sweet potato planting in the early stages. In addition, this implement also equipped with granular based fertilizer applicator in which 2 application can be performed together which are weeding and fertilizing. The recorded field capacity of this machine is 0.29 ha/hr for bed forming and 0.28 ha/hr for inter-row weeding and fertilizing. In terms of fertilizer application performance, the average amount of fertilizer to be withdrawn for 50m bed is 1.53kg or 7.65g/plant, which is complied to the agronomist recommendation.
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