Morphological characteristics and yields of several sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) tubers

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate certain tubers of new sweet potato clones for their morphological characters of and yield under low input conditions in the middle highland. This study was conducted at Saree, Aceh Besar, the Province of Aceh (485 m ASL) from February to July 2015. The study used a Completely Randomized Block Design of non-factorial with 12 sweet potato clones consisting of nine clones passed by CIP-SEA Bogor, Indonesia (CIP-LSQ, CIP-1945, CIP-MAN, CIP-513, CIP-BDG, CIP-WHI-5, CIP-W86P, CIP-B9, and CIP-204), one national variety (Antin-1), and two local clones (Orange Saree and Purple Saree). The results showed that there were differences in the characters of 12 sweet potato clones in terms of their tuber shapes, skins and flesh colors. Sweet potato tuber shape being studied consisted of an oval, round and long. Tuber flesh color generally was white, cream, yellow, orange and purple. Meanwhile, CIP-1945, CIP-W86P, Local Orange Saree clones, and Antin-1 variety have orange tuber flesh. CIP-WHI5 clone has the highest number of tubers, while CIP-204 clone has the largest diameter and length of tubers, and the highest in tuber yield.