Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 October 2008
Total yield and yield components (tuber numbers and mean tuber weights) of six local sweet potato cultivars were compared in wet and dry season crops. There were significant negative correlations between tuber number and mean tuber weight in five of the six cultivars, and positive correlations between these yield components and total yield, suggesting that cultivars may be grouped into ‘tuber number-tuber weight’ and ‘tuber weight’ types, as well as a ‘random type’ in which yield is related to neither component. Marketable yield tended to be directly related to both components, and cultivars with lower tuber numbers usually produced a higher percentage of marketable yields. The significance of these findings for sweet potato yield improvement is discussed.