The impact of unleached wood ash as a side dressing fertilizing material on growth and tuber yield of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.)

Paper Details

Research Paper 01/08/2018
Views (436) Download (26)
current_issue_feature_image
publication_file

The impact of unleached wood ash as a side dressing fertilizing material on growth and tuber yield of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.)

Culver Mvumi, Nicodimus Magwati, Albert Tsindi
Int. J. Agron. Agri. Res.13( 2), 85-92, August 2018.
Certificate: IJAAR 2018 [Generate Certificate]

Abstract

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is amongthe world’s most important and versatile food crops with high yielding potential of dry matter (DM) (vine and tuber) and tuber yield, but the crop’s production remains low due to lack of fertilizers. The current study investigates the impact of applying unleached wood ash as a side dressing fertilizing material on growth and tuber yield of sweet potato. The Msasa (Brachystegia specifomiis Benth.) wood ash treatments (30, 50and 70g/plant) were applied on German 11 sweet potato cultivar. No ash and potassium sulphate were the negative and positive control treatments used, respectively. Measurements taken were number of tubers, fresh tuber weight, tuber DM, vine DM and tuber yield. Unleached wood ash gave highly significant (P<0.001) effect on all variables measured, except of number of tubers/plant where no significant (F4,12 = 0.51; P=0.728) effect was observed. Potassium sulphate significantly (P < 0.05) increased growth and tuber yield of sweet potato on all variables (except tuber number) more than the highest wood ash treatment (70 g). Highest DM% (tuber and vine) was produced at an optimum wood ash application of 50g/plant, while highest fresh tuber weight and tuber yield were obtained at 70g/plant. Based on the results, it is concluded that wood ash has potential to increase growth and tuber yield of sweet potato grown in poor soils; maximum vine and tuber DM% are attained at50 g/plant Msasa wood ash, while fresh tuber weight and tuber yield are attained at 70g/plant.

VIEWS 60

Awodun MA. 2007. Effect of sawdust ash on nutrient status, growth and yield of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp). Asian Journal of Agriculture 1, 92–96.

Bansal SK, Trehan SP. 2011. Effect of potassium on yield and processing quality attributes of potato. Karnataka Journal of Agricultural Sciences 24, 48–54.

Bazawit M. 2015. Orange fleshed sweet potato varieties evaluated with respect to growth parameters. Journal of Agronomy 14, 164–169. http://dx.doi.org/10.3923/ja.2015.164.169

Bourke RM. 1985. Influence of nitrogen and potassium fertilizers on growth of sweet potatoes. Field Crop Research 12, 363–375. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0378-4290(85)90081-4

Campbell AG. 1990. Recycling and disposing of wood ash. Tappi Journal 73, 141–146.

Collins P.2000. Root Crops:  Ipomoea batatas. London: Leonard Hill Books, p307.

Demeyer A, Nkana JCV, Verloo MG. 2001. Characteristics of wood ash and influence on soil properties and nutrient uptake: an overview. Bioresource Technology 77, 287–295. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1016/S0960-8524(00)00043-2

Eriksson H. 1998. Short-term effects of granulated wood ash on forest soil chemistry in SW and NE Sweden. Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research 2, 43–55.

FAO Statistical Database. 2011. Sweet potato production statistics.

Füzes I, Heil B, Kovács G. 2015. Effects of wood ash on the chemical properties of soil and crop vitality in small plot experiments. Acta Botanica Hungarica 11, 55–64. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1515/aslh-2015-0004

Gopalakrishnan J, Menon R,  Padmaja G, Sajeev MS,  Moorthy SN. 2011. Nutritional and functional characteristics of protein-fortified pasta from sweet potato. Food and Nutrition Sciences 2, 944–955. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.4236/fns.2011.29129

Grewal JS, Singh SN. 1980. Effect of K nutrition on frost damage and yield of potato on alluvial soils of Punjab. Plant and Soil 57, 105–110.

Gurr GM, Liu J, Johnson AC, Woruba DN,  Kirchhof G, Fujinuma R,  Sirabis W,   Jeffery Y, Akkinapally R. 2016. Pests, diseases and crop protection practices in the smallholder sweet potato production system of the highlands of Papua New Guinea. PeerJ 4, e2703. http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2703

Kareem I. 2013. Fertilizer treatment effects on yield and quality parameters of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas). Research Journal of Chemistry Environment Science 1, 40–49.

Kooman P. 1996.An analysis of the relationship between dry matter allocation to the tuber. Annals of Botany 77, 235–242. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1006/anbo.1996.0.027

Ludwig B, Rumpf S, Mindrup M, Meiwes KJ, Khanna PK. 2002. Effects of lime and wood ash on soil-solution chemistry, soil chemistry and nutritional status of a pine stand in northern Germany. Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research 17, 225–237. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/028275802753742891

Mohamed M. 1984. Effects of bed preparation and nitrogen fertilization on growth, yield and quality of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatus). Acta Horticulture (ISHS) 143,311–318. http://dx.doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1984.143.35

Mvumi C, Mawoko A, Muropa A, Tsindi A. 2018. Effects of In-row spacing on growth and yield of irish potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) varieties in Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. International Journal of Agronomy Agricultural Research 12, 19–26.

Namo OAT, Akinbola OJ. 2016. Sweet potato: production, nutritional properties and diseases. Cytogenetics and Plant Breeding Unit, Department of Plant Science and Technology, University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria.

Onwueme IC. 1978. Cultivation, harvesting and storage. The Tropical Root Crops- tam, cassava, sweet potato and cocoyam. University Ife, IIe-Ife Nigeria. p. 176–183.

Onwueme IC, Sinha TO. 1991. Field crop production in tropical Africa: principles and practice.CTA, Africa, p 267–273.

Patricia I, Bansal SK. 1999. Potassium and integrated nutrient management in potato. Proceedings of the Global Conference on Potato. New Delhi, India. p 1–3.

White RK, Rice JS. 1993. Wood ash treated sludge for agricultural use. Presented at the 1993 International Summer Meeting of the ASAE, Paper No. 936058. American Society of Agricultural Engineers, 2950 Niles Rd., St. Joseph, MI.

Saarsalmi A, Mälkönen E, Piirainen S. 2001. Effects of wood ash fertilization on forest soil chemical properties. Silva Fennica 35, 355–368.

Schiemenz K.2011.Biomass ashes and their phosphorus fertilizing effects on different crops. Nutrient Cycling in Agro ecosystems 87, 471–482. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1007/s10705-010-9353-9

Tamminen P, Saarsalmi A.2013. Effects of whole-tree harvesting on growth of pine and spruce seedlings in southern Finland. Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research 28, 559–565.

Turner A, Chivinge O. 1999. Production and marketing of horticultural crops in Zimbabwe: A survey of smallholder farmers in the Mashonal and East province. CIIFAD, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

Trehan SP, Claassen N. 2000. Potassium uptake efficiency of potato and wheat in relation to growth inflowing solution culture. Potato Research 43, 9–18.

Trehan SP, Roy SK, Sharma RC. 2001. Potato variety differences in nutrient deficiency symptoms and responses to NPK. Better Crops International. Potash and Phosphate Institute of Canada (PPIC) 15, 18–21.

Zake JYK, Nkwiine C. 1982. The effect of ash, calcium carbonate and inoculation on nitrogen fixation and yield of beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) variety K20. In: J.N. Quiresh, F.N. Muchena, C.M. Nyihia, N. Njeru and S.M. Mugumbi (Eds.). Proceedings of the 5th annual general meeting of the Soil Science Society of East Africa, p46–55.