Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-n9wrp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T23:36:46.519Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Performance of yam (Dioscorea spp.) setts planted without water

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

I. C. Onwueme
Affiliation:
Plant Science Department, University of Ife, Nigeria

Summary

Setts of Dioscorea alata and D. rotundata sprouted as rapidly in dry soil, dry sawdust, or dry shredded newsprint as in moist sawdust. Sprouting was slightly less rapid when the setts were kept on a laboratory shelf. Sprouting loci were smaller but more numerous in the dry-sprouted setts. Sprout buds produced during dry-sprouting remained relatively unelongated when compared with moist-sprouted setts, but setts wetted after dry-soil sprouting for 14 days produced a greater number of vines per sett.

When D. rotundatasetts obtained from 8-month stored tubers were subjected to alternating wetting and drying during sprouting, several sprouting loci developed into negatively geotropic, finger-like structures, rhizome-like in appearance but tuber-like in bulk.

The cultural implications of the results are discussed, and a scheme is proposed for pre-sprouting yam setts indoors before planting them in the field.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Coursey, D. G. (1967). Yams. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Giradot, L. V. (1956). Planting and fertilisation experiments with yams. Report of the Central Agricultural Experiment Station, Suakoko, Liberia.Google Scholar
Miege, J. (1957). Influence de quelques caractères des tubercules semancés sur la Ievée at le rendement des ignames cultivées. Journal d'Agriculture Tropicale et de Bolanique appliqué 4, 315–42.Google Scholar
Onwueme, I. C. (1973). The sprouting process in yam (Dioscorea spp.) tuber pieces. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 81, 375–9.Google Scholar
Onwueme, I. C. (1975 a). Tuber formation in yam (Dioscorea spp.): Effect of moisture stress; contribution of the parent sott. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 85, 267–9.Google Scholar
Onwueme, I. C. (1975 b). Influence of storage time on earliness of sprouting and tubering in Dioscorea rotun-data yams. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 84, 503–5.Google Scholar