Reaction of sweet potato (Impomoea batatas L.) to Gamma irradiation

Abstract

Sweet potato is one of the most important food crops in the world. Vine cuttings of 50 to I C)C) cm with auxiliary buds were obtained. The cut portion included the middle to top portion of the vines from three varieties; Jukwa Orange, 199062 CRI and Ejunita CRI/E/Africa with code; 293, 322 and 296, respectively. The varieties were exposed to 1 5, 25, 35 and 45 Gy doses of cobalt 60 gamma inacliation. The direct effect of closes on the material was assessed on the basis of days to first sprouting of the vines and number of to sprouting; shoot length, number of leaves per vine from the first week of leave emergence to the eight weeks. At maturity data on effect of gamma irradiation on yield such as length of tuber and width of tuber were taken and analysed using Gemstat. Results showed that the response of sweet potato plant was affected by the variety and dose of exposure which revealed significant reduction in the average of most studied characteristics as the dose of gamma irradiation increased. Average plants height of varieb,r 293 was significantly higher than the other varieties (62.0 cm) at 8th week. Reduction in the tuber formation at dose 45 Gy for all varieties was observed.