A Sweet Potato Farmer’s Guide for the Selection of Sweet Potato Cultivars in Barbados using Physical Characteristics and Total Sugars

Evangeline Ragoonath-Devonish, Nelissa Thomas and Angela Alleyne

Farm and Business - The Journal of the Caribbean Agro-Economic Society, 2020, vol. 12, issue 01

Abstract: In June 2018, the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the University of the West, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados conducted a sweet potato trial using thirty-two varieties with the objectives being to examine some physical traits of available cultivars in the gene bank, analyse the sugar content, as well as to produce a farmer’s guide for market selection of sweet potato cultivars in Barbados. The study took note of the following parameters: tuber length, tuber diameter, skin and flesh colour, shape, average tuber number and tuber yield or mass or tubers weight. Statistical analysis showed that the average number of tubers, average length of tubers, and tuber diameters of the varieties followed a normal distribution, and revealed the levels of variation among these parameters. Interestingly, the yield of tubers and the size of these sweet potato did not follow a normal distribution. Results from the sugar analysis showed that varieties with orange and creamy flesh colours contained a higher percentage of sugars (15-16%) compared to the white-flesh coloured varieties with 11-12%. A draft farmer’s selection chart was produced for easy identification of eight widely used varieties found in Barbados using both morphological and biochemical characteristics.

Keywords: Agribusiness; Crop Production/Industries (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:fabtho:307707

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.307707

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