Journal of
Plant Breeding and Crop Science

  • Abbreviation: J. Plant Breed. Crop Sci.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 2006-9758
  • DOI: 10.5897/JPBCS
  • Start Year: 2009
  • Published Articles: 450

Article in Press

Effect of planting density on vegetative growth and yield of Irish potato in Rwanda.

Muhinyuza Jean Baptiste, David Twizerimana, Antoine Karangwa.

  •  Received: 19 December 2020
  •  Accepted: 22 March 2021
Potato is one of the most important foods and cash crops in Rwanda. Even though potato has become a very popular food source in Rwanda but the productivity is still low due to many constraints including inappropriate plant spacing. This study was therefore conducted to evaluate the effect of inter and intra row spacing on growth and yield parameters of Irish potato. The experiment used Kuruseke variety with different spacing including 0.3x0.8m, 0.4x0.6m, and 0.4x0.8m respectively. Based on the results obtained, high spacing (0.3x0.8m) showed a significant difference for Irish potato production with the highest yield performance. Total tuber yield is mainly attributed to the higher tuber size. It is recommended to consider in the future, the number of tubers per plant which normally depends on the number of stem per plant and spacing.

Keywords: Planting density, potato, Rwanda, vegetative growth, yield.