African Journal of
Agricultural Research

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Agric. Res.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1991-637X
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJAR
  • Start Year: 2006
  • Published Articles: 6901

Full Length Research Paper

Effects of prohexadione-calcium on sweet potato vegetative growth as influenced by cultivar and nitrogen

Victor N. Njiti*, Qun Xia, Leonna Tyler, Andrea Tenner and Lakeisha Stewart Antione
Tenner and Ming Gao, Department of Agriculture, Alcorn State University, Alcorn State, MS 39096, USA.
Email: [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 20 January 2012
  •  Published: 30 April 2012

Abstract

The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas Lam.) under high nitrogen produces excess vines at the expense of storage root. Prohexadione-Ca has been used to reduce vegetative growth and increase harvest efficiency and yield in many fruit and row crops. Using Prohexadione-Ca to reduce vegetative growth in sweet potato may enhance storage root yield and harvest efficiency. This study examined the effects of Prohexadione-Ca on sweet potato vegetative growth. In 2010 and 2011, two week-old plants of the sweet potato cv. O’ Henry and SC1149-19 were sprayed with 0 and 810 mg a.i. L-1 Prohexadione-Ca over N levels of 0, 2.7 and 5.3 g plant-1in the greenhouse. Vine length was significantly (P≤0.05) reduced by Pro-Ca. The reduction in vine length was not affected by cultivar or N. Internode length was significantly (P≤0.05) reduced by Pro-Ca. Prohexadione-Ca treated plants had significantly higher leaf thickness and vine diameter compared to untreated plants. However, leaf area and vines plant-1 were unaffected by Prohexadione-Ca. Data from this study indicated that Pro-Ca has the potential of being used to manipulate source-sink relationship for higher storage root yield in sweet potato.

 

Key words: Prohexadione-calcium, sweet potato, vegetative growth, growth inhibitors, gibberellins, cultivar, nitrogen.