Agro-Morphological Characterization of Sweet Potato Genotypes Grown in Different Ecological Zones in Kenya

Abstract

A main characteristic of sweet potato [Ipomoea batatas(L.) Lam.] is its high phenotypic and genotypic variability. There is no, or limited, information on suitability of agro-morphological characteristics for utilization in production and processing. Currrently, farmers are growing different sweet potato genotypes characterized with low yield. The aim of the study was to evaluate agro-morphological characteristics of 68 sweet potato genotypes in order to determine the best performing ones. The sweet potato genotypes were grown at the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization and the Embu and Miyare Agriculture Training College. The locations were chosen because they are the main sweet potato producing areas with different climatic and production conditions. Six storage root and five aerial characters were used in the characterization. The genotypes differed in storage root stalk and root length; vine internode length and vine internode growth rate; petiole length and leaf size, and yield at both sites. Genotype Nyautenge was the best performing in terms of storage root yield. There was poor correlation among agro-morphological attributes. The study demonstrates the potential of some sweet potato genotypes such as Nyautenge for high productivity.

Phytostimulatory Influence of Comamonas testosteroni and Silver Nanoparticles on Linum usitatissimum L. under Salinity Stress

“…On contrary, it was stated that GSH and AsA contents of safflower significantly decreased with rising salinization levels. However, bacterial strains B. cereus, and B. aerius elevated the level of ascorbic acid and glutathione in safflower seedlings with elevation in salinity level [59]. Antioxidants enzymes are the utmost common physiological factors regulating plant growth, and they are effective in scavenging ROS through their increased activity under abiotic tension [60].…”

Comparing the growth and yield performance of six different varieties of frafra potato (Solenostemon rotundifluis Poir) grown under rain-fed conditions in the Guinea Savanna ecological zone of Ghana

“…Other investigators have also recorded both positive and negative correlations between the length of vines and root tuber yield, even though they worked on varieties of sweet potato. Ochieng [ 16 ] recorded a positive link between vine internode length and root yield of sweet potatoes. Ayimbire et al [ 14 ] found a positive relationship between the vine length and mass of root tuber in three different varieties of sweet potato in the range of r = 0.02 and r = 0.19 as well as negative correlations in two others in the range of r = -0.05 and r = -0.03.…”

Phenotypic Variation in Leaf Morphology of the USDA, ARS Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas) Germplasm Collection

“…In addition to use in genetic diversity studies, morphological characterization has been used for cultivar identification and for correlation with characteristics of agronomic importance (Karuri et al, 2010;Nwankwo et al, 2012;Rahman et al, 2015;Tairo et al, 2008); however, because morphological characterization is environmentally dependent, it can be unreliable in cultivar identification and classification (Efisue, 2015). Quantitative phenotypic traits result from complex interactions between genetic factors and the environmental conditions, which affect phenotypic expression (Delazari et al, 2018;Manrique and Hermann, 2001;Ochieng, 2019). Like all plant species, sweetpotatoes produce slightly different phenotypes under different environmental conditions (Glato et al, 2017;Sulistiani et al, 2018).…”