CHAPTER 3.

ROOT AND TUBER CROPS

3.1. Sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.)

Lam]
 Root and tuber crops
• Root and tuber crops are important in supplying the energy
food needs of many populations in tropical and sub-tropical
regions and to a large extent also those in temperate zones.
• The principal root crops are sweet potato and cassava.
• The major tuberous crop is white potato (Irish potato)
• Their main common features is that the edible part is
produced underground.
• Root and tuber crops contain up to 80% water, thus they are
bulky to transport and are highly perishable.
• They are also low in protein and where they are the main
source of food, the populations may be deficient in protein,
unless it is supplemented adequately from other sources
such as pulses and animal protein. 2
 Sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam]
• Sweetpotato and cassava (Manihot esculenta) are the two
most important root crops in Eswatini
• Sweetpotato is grown in all the four agro-ecological zones
of Eswatini, but with majority of the crop being grown in
the Highveld and Middleveld
• The popularity of both crops is based on their high
productivity, suitability to smallholder cropping system,
ease of propagation, tolerance to drought, low demand on
soil nutrients, capacity of providing reasonable yields in
agro-ecologies and seasons where other crops fail
• There is flexibility in planting and harvesting, convenient
in-ground storage, and reduction in soil and wind erosion.

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 Sweetpotato…
• Sweetpotato and cassava yields (particularly in
terms of joules per unit area per unit time) are
high surpassing those of maize, rice, sorghum and
wheat.
• In terms of dry matter yield per unit area, cassava
is at the top of 10 important tropical crops.
• Sweetpotato takes about four months to mature
and requires less moisture compared to maize.
• Thus, it can be grown two times per year if
sufficient residual moisture is available.
• Both sweetpotato and cassava are ideal strategic
crops for resource poor farmers
4
 Sweetpotato…
• Sweetpotato and cassava yields (particularly in
terms of joules per unit area per unit time) are
high surpassing those of maize, rice, sorghum and
wheat.
• In terms of dry matter yield per unit area, cassava
is at the top of 10 important tropical crops.
• Sweetpotato takes about four months to mature
and requires less moisture compared to maize.
• Thus, it can be grown two times per year if
sufficient residual moisture is available.
• Both sweetpotato and cassava are ideal strategic
crops for resource poor farmers
5
 Sweetpotato…
Taxonomy
• Genus: Ipomoea, Species: batatas
• Botanical name: [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam]
• Family: Convolvulaceae (Morning glory family)
• It is hexaploid (2n=6x=90) crop with a basic
chromosome number of 15.
• It is grown mainly for its edible storage roots.
• The family has about 45 genera and 1000 species
• Sweetpotato is the only economically important plant in
the family.
• It is a perennial plant but normally grown as an annual
6
 Origin and distribution
• The origin of sweetpotato is in tropical America (Mexico,
Central or South America) where a wild species Ipomoea
trifida is found in Mexico.
• Its entry into cultivation probably occurred about 3,000 B.C.
• Sweetpotato was introduced from its center of origin, to some
islands of the Pacific and became an important crop in New
Zealand
• Spanish traders carried it from Mexico to the Philippines from
where it was spread to the other islands.
• Portuguese traders introduced it from the Caribbean and South
America to Europe, Africa, India, and South East Asia
• It is the seventh most important food crop in the world in
terms of production after wheat, rice, maize, potato, barley
and cassava.
• It is cultivated in more than 110 countries in the world on
about 9 million ha, yielding ∼140 million tonnes per year with
an average yield of about 15 t ha−1.
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 Origin and distribution…
• It is mainly grown in developing countries, which
account for over 95% of world output.
• Asia accounts for the bulk of the world production and
hectarage.
• About two thirds of the world production is in China.
• Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Angola, Burundi,
Mozambique, Madagascar, Rwanda and Ethiopia are
among the top 15 sweet potato producers in the world
• The other six are China, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, USA
and Japan.

8
 Origin and distribution…

• In Eswatini, sweetpotato was produced in 1326 ha, with

production of 2479 tonnes (FAO, 2020).
• In most parts of the tropics it is considered as a minor
or secondary crop, where if the primary crop fails, the
farmer is assured of at least a partial crop of
sweetpotato to sustain himself and his family.
• However, it seems that the importance of the crop will
increase in the years to come in view of climate
change

9
 Utilization and nutritional values
• Sweetpotato is considered a food with high nutritive
value.
• Important source of carbohydrate (energy)
• Good source of minerals and vitamins
• It has 0.2% fat and 27% carbohydrate.
• The sugar content is 3-6% and varies with cultivar and
environmental conditions.
• However, it contains only 1.5-2% protein
• This low content of protein could result in protein
deficiency if there is no protein supplement.

10
 Utilization and nutritional values…
• It has considerable amounts of most essential amino
acids except tryptophan and other sulphur containing
amino acids.
• The peel is higher in proteins, minerals and other non-
carbohydrates constituents than the rest of the storage
roots.
• The leaves and tender shoots are used as vegetables
food in many parts of the tropics
• The predominant mineral in the tubers are potassium,
sodium, chloride, phosphorus, and calcium.
• It is a cheap source of β-carotene, polyphenolic
components, carbohydrates and other nutrients.

11
 Utilization and nutritional values…
• The orange/yellow flesh sweet potato varieties are an
important source of β-carotene (vitamin A) and also
excellent sources of ascorbic acid, and vitamin B complex.
• The purple fleshed sweet potato varieties are rich in
anthocyanins and other polyphenolic components
• Sweetpotato is consumed after being boiled, baked,
roasted or fried.
• The chips can also be ground and used with wheat flour for
bread production.
• It can also be canned and marketed and be used in the
production of alcohol.
• Most sweetpotato production is used in consumption
(fresh), however, in many developed countries it is used for
livestock feed.
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 Adaptation
Altitude
• From sea level to 3000 m asl
Soil
• The plants tolerate a range of soil conditions but a
well-drained light textures (sandy loam or loamy soil)
with a pH of about 5 to 7.5 is preferable
• Heavy clay soils should be avoided as they can retard
root development, resulting in growth cracks and
poor root shape.
• The soil should be deep ripped and then disk
cultivated to break up any large clods
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 Adaptation
Rainfall:
• Annul rainfall of 750-1000 mm with 500 mm falling
during growing season.
• Wet conditions/ water logging retard root growth,
encourage cracking and accelerate weevil
development, a major pest of sweetpotato
• Drought tolerant but yields are reduced if drought
occurs during the first 6 weeks after planting or
during storage root formation.
• If the crop is stressed for moisture, it forms lignified
storage roots
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 Adaptation…
Temperature
• It is warm climate, sun-loving crop
• The optimum temperature is between 21 and 29 0C, although
it can tolerate temperatures as low as 18 0C and as high as 35
0C.

• Plants stop growing at 15 oC and die due to chilling injury if

kept at 10 oC or below for prolonged periods. Thus, it is
sensitive to frost
• High temperatures inhibit root growth more than vine
growth.
Day length
• It is a short day plant. Short days promote storage root
formation. There are also day neutral cultivars
• High light and long days promote vine growth while short
days induce root enlargement and flowering
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 Botany
• Sweet potato is a perennial dicotyledonous plant with
long trailing vines
• Botanically, the underground part is classified as a storage
root, rather than a tuber
Roots
• The sweetpotato root system consists of fibrous roots
that absorb nutrients and water, and anchor the plant,
and storage roots that are lateral roots which store
photosynthetic products.
• As the plant matures, thick pencil roots that have some
lignification and mainly used for anchorage are produced.
• Other roots that have no lignification, are fleshy and
thicken a lot, are called storage roots.
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 Botany
Roots…
Fibrous roots
• Adventitious roots are formed 1-3 days after planting, give
rise to fibrous roots, which can be 2 m long
• As vine grows, roots are produced at various internodes
Storage roots
• Large, fleshy, edible storage roots are formed on the
underground stem nodes.
• The storage roots are variable in shape, size and colour.
• Some are long and cylindrical, others are short, thick and
rounded at the ends.
• The skin may be whitish, dull straw-coloured, light red or
purple.
• The flesh is also variable in colour, texture, moisture and
quality: white, orange, yellow, pinkish or purple
• Starch is stored in the parenchyma cells of both the central
cone and the cortex.
17
 Shapes and colour of storage roots

Skin colour Flesh colour

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 Botany…
Stem/vine
• A sweetpotato stem is cylindrical and its length, like
that of the internodes, depends on the growth habit of
the cultivar and of the availability of water in the soil,
• The erect cultivars are approximately 1 m long, while
the very spreading ones can reach more than 5 m long.
• Some cultivars have stems with twining characteristics.
• The internode length can vary from short to very long,
and, according to stem diameter, can be thin or very
thick.
• Depending on the sweetpotato cultivar, the stem
colour varies from green to totally pigmented with
anthocyanins (red-purple colour),
• The hairiness in the apical shoots, and in some cultivars
also in the stems, varies from glabrous (without hairs)
to very pubescent (with hairs)
19
 Botany…
Leaves
• The leaves are simple and spirally arranged alternately
on the stem in a pattern known as 2/5 phyllotaxis
(there are 5 leaves spirally arranged in 2 circles around
the stem)
• Depending on the cultivar, the edge of the leaf lamina
can be entire, toothed or lobed.
• The shape of sweetpotato leaves can be rounded,
reniform (kidney-shaped), cordate (heart-shaped),
triangular, hastate (trilobular and spear-shaped with
the two basal lobes divergent), lobed and almost
divided.
• The leaf colour can be green-yellowish, green or can
have purple pigmentation in part or all the leaf blade.
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 Botany…
Leaves…
• Some cultivars show purple young leaves and green
mature leaves.
• The leaf size and the degree of hairiness vary
according to the cultivar and environmental
conditions.
• The leaf veins are palmated and their colour, which is
very useful to differentiate cultivars, can be green to
partially or totally pigmented with anthocyanins.
• The length of the petiole ranges from very short to
very long.
• Petioles can be green or with purple pigmentation at
the junction with the lamina and/or with the stem or
throughout the petiole
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 Botany…
Flower
• Sweetpotato cultivars differ in their ability to flower.
• Under normal conditions in the field, some cultivars do not
flower, others produce very few flowers and others flower
profusely.
• The flower buds are joined to the peduncle through a very
short stalk (pedicel).
• The colour of the flower bud, pedicel and peduncle varies
from green to completely purple pigmented.
• The flower is bisexual, but the flowers are self-sterile
• The inherent nature of sweetpotato including self- and
cross-incompatibility, polyploidy, heterozygosity and a
large chromosome number (2n=6x=90) is a challenge for
its genetic improvement. 22
Morphology of sweet potato

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 Husbandry
• Land preparation: Same as for maize
• Seedbed: Generally flat or on ridges (30 cm high)
after green manure/cattle manure has been
incorporated into the soil
• Ridges increase yield through tuber expansion,
facilitate harvesting; mounds are also used
• Time of planting: Beginning of rains (mid October-
end of November)
• Farmers may choose any other time when soil is
moist, but yield will be low if there is delay in
planting
• Varieties : Kenya white, Zimbabwe, Ligwalagwala,
• Propagation: sweetpotato can be propagated in
three ways
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 Husbandry…
1. Propagation by using transplants
• Transplants are obtained by planting “seed” roots
in beds.
• Several small shoots develop from the vascular
cambium and emerge through the cortex of the
root.
• The sprouts are developed in beds kept at 24-27
oC soil temperature and require about 6 weeks
before they are ready for transplanting.
• The sprouts are cut at ground level when they are
20-25 cm long.
• These plants called sprouts or slips are ready for
the field when they have 6 to 10 leaves.
25
Sweetpotato slips

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 Husbandry…
2. Propagation by using vine cuttings
• Cuttings of vines with eight or more nodes of about
25-30 cm long are used.
• Vine cuttings from the tip and the middle section of
the vine are better than from the base as they have
fewer diseases and better sprouting capacity
• The best planting material is the top 30 cm of the
vine
• The use of nurseries for seedling production should
be encouraged during the off season.

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 Husbandry…
2. Propagation by using vine cuttings…
• Vines should not have weevil eggs, larvae or pupa
• The vines are held for 2 to 3 days under humid
conditions for healing at the cut surface before
planting
• When planting about half of the vine is buried in the
soil (10 cm deep).
• Plant spacing varies between 90-100 cm between
rows and 25 -30 cm between plants.
• In mound planting, 2-3 vines/mound can be used
• Planting should be at angle of about 45

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 Husbandry…
3. Micropropagation
• Micropropagation of sweet potato through tissue culture
offers significant advantages:
– production of large number of disease free clonal
propagules within a short time,
– eliminating viral, bacterial and fungal infection and the
production of high quality and uniform plantlets
Basic principles
• Use plants of 2-3 months old
• Main aim is to increase healthy planting materials
• All above ground parts can be used for rapid multiplication
• Use only healthy portion free from insect pests and
diseases
• Use appropriate growth medium
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 Husbandry…
• Fertilization: Farmers in Eswatini use weeds as
green manure crop
• Most of smallholder farmers do not apply
inorganic fertilizers
• Crop responds well to manure
• 350 kg/ha of 2-3-4 (38) at planting.
• N is required for initial vegetative growth, but
should not be too excessive to avoid imbalance
between source and sink ratios
• P is useful for root development
• K is useful for quality and storage of roots after
harvest

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 Husbandry…
Weed management
• Sweetpotato grows slowly at the beginning and so has
poor initial ground cover, thus promoting weed growth
• When ground cover is achieved, weed problem
becomes less
• Weed about 2-3 times during crops growth
• Weed with hoe, especially at early stages of crop’s
growth.
• Build up ridges around base of tuber for tuber
development
• Major diseases: Black rot, mosaic virus, root knot
nematodes
• Major insect pests: Sweetpotato weevil, hawk moth,
white grubs.

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 Harvesting
• Most sweetpotato varieties are ready in about 4-5 months
after planting.
• Harvesting too early results in low yields while delayed
harvesting may cause tubers that are fibrous and high
infestation by weevils.
• Avoid bruising the tubers during harvesting as bruised
tubers do not store well because the wounds become entry
points for disease-causing organisms.
• Delay in harvest can cause 10-90% loss due to weevils
• Most of the crop is harvested manually, while in large-scale
production, mechanical harvesting is practiced
• Marketable grades of roots are between 100 to 500 g.
• If harvested at the correct time, around 60 to 70% of total
roots should be within this grade. 32
 Yield
• In Africa, sweetpotato yields range from 3-6 t ha-1
relative to a maximum achievable yield of 40-50 t ha-1.
• In Eswatini, the yield is about 5 t/ha.
Storage
• Wash and cure tubers before storage as they have short
shelf life
• Curing is a wound-healing process which occurs most
rapidly at 26 to 32 °C, a relative humidity of 85 to 90%
and good ventilation for 7 to 10 days.
• Underground storage in pits has been shown to increase
shelf life by about 2-3 weeks.
• “Milking”, a process of harvesting storage roots that are
ready, can also be used, while leaving other tubers in
the soil to develop further, or as a means of storage. 33