Abstract
Taro, Colocasia esculenta (L) Schott., is a staple food for many people in Africa. Despite the numerous importance of the crop, it still remains an underutilized crop in Ghana with little information on many aspects of the crop, especially agronomic practices. This experiment was conducted to identify the effect of planting distance on growth and yield of two promising taro accessions. The experiment was laid out using the split-plot design arranged in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications in which accessions (BL/SM/80 and BL/SM/16) were used as main plots and three planting distances (1 m × 1 m, 1 m × 0.75 m, and 1 m × 0.5 m) as subplots. Data were recorded on the 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th, 20th, 24th, and 28th week after planting (WAP) for growth parameters while yield data were taken at harvest. The results indicated that plant height (63.4 cm), petiole length (44.0 cm), number of leaves (4.7), leaf length (31.7 cm), and width (20.5 cm) were significantly ( P ≤ 0.05 ) higher in closely spaced plants than widely spaced plants at 4 WAP and 8 WAP for petiole length (70.3 cm) and in the 28th WAP where there was an accession effect on leaf length and number of suckers/plant. The highest corm yield/plant (0.63 kg) and total corm yield/ha (11.7 t/ha) in both accessions were achieved by the medium plant spacing (1 m × 0.75 m) and lower plant spacing (1 m × 0.5 m), respectively. Accession BS/SM/80 recorded the highest total yield/ha of 13.0 t/ha for 1 m × 0.5 m plant spacing. The higher number of suckers (8.1) was recorded by higher spaced plants. From the study, it was seen that growth parameters correlated significantly and positively with yield. It is therefore recommended that farmers in the area and those in similar production areas use a spacing of 1 m × 0.5 m for optimum growth and yield.
Highlights
Taro, Colocasia esculenta (L) Schott., is a member of the monocotyledonous family Araceae and subfamily Aroideae [1,2,3,4]
Significant (P ≤ 0.05) higher plant height, petiole length, and number of suckers were seen in accession BL/SM/80 at 4 week after planting (WAP). e number of leaves was significant in accession BL/SM/16 at 12 WAP
At 20 WAP, where vegetative growth of taro is said to be at the peak, plants spaced at 1 m × 0.75 m recorded higher growth values, these were not significantly different from each other. e number of suckers was significant (P ≤ 0.05) in accession BL/SM/16 at 24 WAP and at harvest (28 WAP)
Summary
Colocasia esculenta (L) Schott., is a member of the monocotyledonous family Araceae and subfamily Aroideae [1,2,3,4]. E importance of taro is increasing as a subsistence crop in the rural areas of Ghana and the rise in importance of the crop can be attributed to the price increase in cereals and other root crops such as yam [9]. Most of the taros produced in the rural areas of Ghana are consumed and as such very few find their way into the markets. E constraints mentioned above in the taro industry of Ghana can be tackled and if possible solved through research. Ghana is presently the world’s third highest producer of taro producing about 1,460,938 tons per annum which accounts for about 14% of the world’s total and 19% of Africa’s total production [10]. E yield of taro is still low in Ghana as a result of poor production practices Ghana is presently the world’s third highest producer of taro producing about 1,460,938 tons per annum which accounts for about 14% of the world’s total and 19% of Africa’s total production [10]. e yield of taro is still low in Ghana as a result of poor production practices
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