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Article http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/ijfsa.2026.09.011

Field Performance Evaluation of Tissue Culture-derived Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) Cultivars

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Berihanu Sime^1,*, Hundesa Fufa², Atlaw Eshibel³

¹Department of Plant Science, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Jinka University, Jinka, P.O. Box 165, Ethiopia.

²Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Ambo University, Ambo, P.O. Box 19, Ethiopia.

³Jinka Agricultural Research Center, Jinka, P.O. Box 96, Ethiopia.

*Corresponding author: Berihanu Sime

Published: September 29,2026

Abstract

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) is a vital food security crop among resource-constrained smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa. Though the demand for the crop is very high, inadequate good-quality planting material, lack of high-yielding varieties, and economic and healthy planting methods are the major production constraints. By addressing problems with food security and agricultural production, tissue culture techniques have opened a new frontier in agricultural science. To evaluate the field efficiency of tissue-cultured plantlets, a field experiment was conducted at the Jinka Agricultural Research Center during the 2020/2021 cropping season using a 3 × 2 factorial design in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The treatments evaluated three propagation techniques: in vitro micropropagation, conventional apical vine cuttings, and sprouted root slips across two adapted cultivars (Awasa-83 and Kulfo). Data collected on different parameters were analyzed using SAS 9.0 software with a General Linear Model procedure, and mean differences were compared by LSD at the 5% level of significance. The results showed positive interaction effects between cultivars and propagation method across most growth and yield parameters. The cultivar Kulfo propagated via sprouted root slips achieved the highest marketable storage root yield (28.79 t ha⁻¹) and maximum storage root diameter (10.96 cm). Conversely, vine cuttings showed the poorest performance, producing the lowest total yield (22.93 t ha⁻¹). Tissue culture accelerated vine elongation (196.28 cm) and aboveground fresh biomass production. Sprouted root slips offered a technically accessible and economically viable alternative for smallholders, avoiding the high input costs and acclimatization losses of micropropagation systems. Future multi-environmental trials are required to confirm these propagation responses across diverse agro-ecological zones.

Keywords

Propagation; field performance; sprouting; sweet potato; tissue culture; vine cutting

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How to cite this paper

Field Performance Evaluation of Tissue Culture-derived Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) Cultivars

How to cite this paper: Berihanu Sime, Hundesa Fufa, Atlaw Eshibel. (2026) Field Performance Evaluation of Tissue Culture-derived Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) Cultivars. International Journal of Food Science and Agriculture, 10(3), 293-301.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/ijfsa.2026.09.011