Year: 1995
Type: article
Abstract: The objective of this study was to identify a sweetpotato canopy type ideally suited to suppress weed growth. With this knowledge, breeders could select sweetpotatoes that require less weed control. Diverse canopy types, ranging from upright, short-internode bunch types to long-internode trailing types, were compared in a split-plot design (hand-weeded and weed treatments). We also included lines with deeply lobed leaves (palmate) and more entire-leaf types. Our results show no significant differences between lines for total ground surface area covered after 6 weeks of growth, no differences in weed dry weight at harvest and few differences in canopy dry weight at harvest. Total ground surface area covered correlated positively with total yield, and weed dry weight correlated negatively to total yield. We were unable to identify individual lines that yield better when pressured with weeds compared to the hand-weeded control, but we were able to identify lines that yield poorly when pressured with weeds compared to the hand-weeded control. These results demonstrate the difficulty in categorically identifying a superior canopy.
Source: HortScience
Language: English
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDGs: Zero hunger, Life on land
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2563893514