ABSTRACT

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is an important food and cash crop serving, as a hunger breaking crop due to its nutrition content, wider adaptability and early maturing behavior. However, the yield of the crop is constrained by a number of factors. Among which unstandardized seed tuber size are some of the important limiting factors. A field experiment was conducted to study the effects of seed tuber size on growth and yield performance of potato variety Panamera at Bamenda III. The treatments consisted of three potato seed tuber sizes (T1≤ 3cm, T2≤5 cm, T3≥7 cm). The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with a factorial arrangement and replicated three times.

The results showed that, seed tuber sizes significantly affected plant height, biomass, yield parameters and marketable and unmarketable size tubers and total tuber yield. Seed size affected growth in height over time differently. plants from large seed potato tubers exhibited greater physiological growth and yield (kg/ha) compared to smaller seed tubers when the experiment was terminated at 80 days after emergence. The highest average height was recorded by T3 which showed statistically significant differences except at 30DAE. Both T2 and T3 presented significantly higher yield compared to the T1.

The results revealed that the larger the seed tuber the higher the yield. T3 had the highest total yield of 16.3 t/ha, followed by T2 with 13.8 t/ha and T1 with 13.8 t/ha respectively. As concerns total number of tubers per plant, it was noticed that T1 and presented a significantly higher score compared to T3. However, when as concerns number of marketable size tubers, T3 instead gave a significantly higher percentage compared to T1. The results of this research clearly showed that in panamera variety of potato seed tuber size strongly affects growth and yield parameters therefore large seed tuber sizes are definitely the most appropriate planting material to start any potato cultivation project. The results of the study show that smaller seed tuber sizes are most suitable for seed production rather than consumable tuber production.

Key words Potato seed size, Growth,Yield.

INTRODUCTION

 Background of the Study

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the most important non-grain food crop in the world, ranking 4^th in terms of total production with over 365 million tons per year (FAOSTAT, 2013), after rice wheat and maize. The Irish potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the most widely grown tuber crops in the world and contributes immensely to human nutrition and food security (Miguel, 1985; Steven, 1999; Karim et al., 2010). It is grown in around 150 countries spread across both temperate and tropical regions and at elevations from sea level to 4,000m (Paul et al. 2012). According to the International Potato Center (CIP) and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the average annual quantity of Irish potato production exceeds 300 million metric tons and more than a billion people worldwide consume it. Among root crops potato ranks first in volume produced and consumed, followed by cassava, sweet potato, and yam (FAOSTAT data, 2004). It has steadily expanded globally, with 35% increase in overall production since 1960. The increase in production is still higher in developing countries of Asia and Africa indicating its growing importance as a staple food source.

Problem Statement

With the problem of seed quality most farmers used mostly rejected seeds as the planting materials as such yields are not always optimum, improving yield performance of the crop could help alleviate starvation as well as increase the disposable income of farmers. Also, in Cameroon and many other countries in Africa, potatoes have become very popular in the last decades because of their ability to adapt too many different functions and activity and suitability for direct marketing. However, for commercial potato production, high yields are necessary to cover up the cost for quality planting material, inputs like fertilizer, pesticides. The cost of seed represents the greatest proportion of the total production costs (Potatoes South Africa, 1979; Kabir et al., 2004; Karim et al., 2010). Accatino and Malagamba (1982) estimated that in developing countries, seed potato tubers represent 40 to 70% of the crop’s production costs.

Justification and Motivation

It becomes imperative that optimum seed need to be established to ensure optimum yield performance and better monetary returns of potato production to farmers (Kabir et al., 2004) in a given geographic area. It is therefore essential to determine the ideal potato tuber size, which when grown at the correct density is able to exhibit high yield performance.  

Main Research Question

• Does the size of seed tuber have any influence on yield performance?

Specific Research Questions

• What is the effect of seed tuber size on the growth characteristics of potato?
• How will seed tuber size influence yield characteristics of potatoes?

Objectives of the Study

To find out how potato seed tubers of different sizes influence emergence, growth rate and yield

Main Objective

To determine the influence of seed size on the yield of potato.

Specific Objectives

In order to attain the main objective, the following specific objectives were to:

• To evaluate the effect of seed tuber sizes on growth attributes
• To determine the influence of seed tuber sizes on yield parameters.