Studies on Evaluation of Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas Lam.) Genotypes for High Tuber Yield and Quality

The present investigation was undertaken at the College Orchard, Department of Vegetable Science, Horticultural College & Research Institute, TNAU, Coimbatore during the year 2021-2022 in a randomized block design with four replications. Six sweet potato accessions viz., Sree Arun, Sree Kanaka, Bhu Krishna, CO 5, Ib 73 and Ib 74 were evaluated to study the growth, yield and quality parameters. All the accessions used in this study were morphologically different in leaf lobing, vine pigmentation, tuber skin and flesh colour. Statistical analysis also confirmed that each accession showed a significant difference among them for growth, yield and quality parameters. The results revealed that, maximum number of tubers per vine of 5.25 was observed in Ib 73, however the accession Ib 74 recorded the highest single tuber weight (205.65 g), tuber yield per plant (1.10 kg), tuber yield per plot (32.62 kg) and tuber yield per ha (22.72 t ha-1) followed by Ib 73 with tuber yield per plant (1.09 kg), tuber yield per plot (32.19 kg) and tuber yield per ha (22.35 t ha-1). The quality parameters viz., Dry matter (%), TSS, Total sugar and Total protein contents mainly decide the quality and nutritive value of sweet potato. There is a significant variation in the quality parameters i.e, TSS, Dry matter, Total sugar and Total protein contents. Higher values were recorded for dry matter content in Ib 73 (33.50 %). The highest total sugar content and protein content were observed in Ib 74 with 6.21g/100g and 2.4g/100g. Overall Ib 74 recorded the highest values for single tuber weight, tuber yield per plant, tuber yield per plot and tuber yield per ha.