Field Performance of Tissue-cultured, Virus-tested ‘Okinawan’ Sweetpotato and Comparison with Some Promising Cultivars in Hawai’i

Abstract

Tissue-cultured, virus-tested (TC) plantlets of sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas var. batatas) cultivars Okinawan, LA 08-21p, and Murasaki-29 were obtained from Louisiana State University Agricultural Center. The objectives of field trials conducted at the Kula Agricultural Park, Maui, HI, were to compare yield and pest resistance of 1) ‘Okinawan’ obtained from a commercial (C) field with TC ‘Okinawan’ and 2) TC Okinawan with the aforementioned TC cultivars. Trials were planted Oct. 2015 and Aug. 2016 and harvested 5 months later. Storage roots were graded according to State of Hawai’i standards, and marketable yields included Grades AA, A, and B. In addition, injuries due to sweetpotato weevil (Cylas formicarius elegantulus) or rough sweetpotato weevil (Blosyrus asellus) were estimated. In both trials, fresh and dry weights of marketable storage roots of TC ‘Okinawan’ were nearly twice those from commercial planting material. In both trials, marketable fresh weights differed among the three TC cultivars; however, significant interactions were found, indicating that yields of cultivars differed between years. In the first field trial, ‘LA 08-21p’ had fresh marketable yields 1.6 to 1.7 times greater than TC ‘Okinawan’ and Murasaki-29, respectively. In the second trial, fresh marketable yields of TC ‘Okinawan’ and ‘LA 08-21p’were similar and 1.7 to 1.5 times greater than that of ‘Murasaki-29’, respectively. In both trials, ‘LA 08-21p’ had greater sweetpotato weevil injury than did the other two cultivars. Interestingly, in the second year, TC ‘Okinawan’ had greater rough sweetpotato weevil injury than did the other cultivars. Our results indicate that tissue-cultured planting materials increased marketable yields of TC ‘Okinawan’ compared with C ‘Okinawan’ sweetpotato and that the other TC cultivars did not produce greater yields than TC Okinawan.