Abstract
Background: Sweetpotato, being a vegetatively propagated crop is prone to seed degeneration, and a continuous source for high quality sweetpotato seed is critical for an efficient seed system. In most Sub-Saharan African countries, the National Agricultural Research Systems use tissue culture to produce limited quantity of pre-basic sweetpotato seed which is then used as starting material to maintain and produce basic seed in mini-screen houses, net tunnels or open field multiplication in low-virus pressure areas by either the private seed companies or vine multipliers. Soil is the predominant media for pre-basic seed multiplication. Multiplying pre-basic sweetpotato seed in sand with fertigation, also known as 'sandponics' is a possible opportunity towards sustainable production of pre-basic sweetpotato seed. It would be beneficial to examine the feasibility and the potential to replace soil system with 'sandponics' for growing pre-basic sweetpotato seed. Methods: Pot experiments were conducted to study how sweetpotato vine propagation is affected by sequentially omitting nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, sulfur and boron from fertilizer applications on cv. Kabode. The experiment was laid in a randomized complete block design with five levels of the factor fertilizer, replicated four times with two blocks. The effect of fertilization of nitrogen at (0, 100, 150, 200 & 250), phosphorus at (0, 30, 60, 90 & 120), calcium at (0, 100, 200, 300 & 400), sulfur at (0, 30, 60, 90 & 120) and boron at (0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 & 0.4) ppm on sweetpotato vegetative growth parameters was measured 45 days after planting. Results: The obtained results showed that application of 200, 60, 200, 120 and 0.3 ppm of N, P, Ca, S and B respectively recorded the highest values in sweetpotato vegetative growth parameters. Conclusions: These results imply that pre-basic sweetpotato vine yields in sandponics could be increased by using this optimized media.
Highlights
Sweetpotato (Ipomea batatas L.) is a staple food for smallholder farmers in much of Sub-Saharan Africa
This study aimed to determine the conditions for high vine yields in sandponics system by optimizing the nutrient media to maximize vegetative growth
A screenhouse experiment was conducted between March and May 2018 at the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS), Muguga, Kenya, located at 1° 11’ 0” South, 36° 39’ 0” East at an altitude of about 1950m above sea level
Summary
Sweetpotato (Ipomea batatas L.) is a staple food for smallholder farmers in much of Sub-Saharan Africa. In most Sub-Saharan African countries, the National Agricultural Research Systems use tissue culture to produce limited quantity of pre-basic sweetpotato seed which is used as starting material to maintain and produce basic seed in mini-screen houses, net tunnels or open field multiplication in low-virus pressure areas by either the private seed companies or vine multipliers. Methods: Pot experiments were conducted to study how sweetpotato vine propagation is affected by sequentially omitting nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, sulfur and boron from fertilizer applications on cv. The effect of fertilization of nitrogen at (0, 100, 150, 200 & 250), phosphorus at (0, 30, 60, 90 & 120), calcium at (0, 100, 200, 300 & 400), sulfur at (0, 30, 60, 90 & 120) and boron at (0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 & 0.4) ppm on sweetpotato vegetative growth parameters was measured 45 days after planting. Conclusions: These results imply that pre-basic sweetpotato vine yields in sandponics could be increased by using this optimized media
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