BREEDING SWEET POTATOES FOR THE TROPICS: VISION, PLANS, METHODOLOGY AND PROGRESS

In his compendium on the edible plants of the world, Tanaka lists c. 10 000 species (Tanaka, 1976). The species that are edible. the parts eaten, the taste, and even the toxic compounds are very varied indeed.
Yet of this great number of species, only a few represent the great staple foods of the world.
These are: wheat, rice, corn, potatoes, barley, cassava and sweet potato (FAO, 1978).

Thus, one of the most important in the world is considered to be the sweet potato.
Yet about two thirds of the world’s production of this crop comes from a single country, China (Villareal, 1982). This suggests that the sweet potato is under-utilised in almost all other climatically suitable parts of the world.
Indeed, in addition to some parts of China, it is probably a staple food only in Papua New Guinea, certain parts of the Philippines and Taiwan, and in isolated situations elsewhere.
The sweet potato could be the most important root or tuber of the tropics because of the following characteristics:

• Potentially, it can be planted or harvested at any time of the year.

• Its season of production is short, seldom more than five months.

• The most important edible portion is not used for planting.

• No trellising is required.

• It requires relatively low soil nutrient levels for its production and is a crop that is fairly easy to produce.

• The leaves are also edible. and complement the tuber in nutritional value.

• All parts of the plant are also useful as animal feed.

IX African Symposium on Horticultural Crops

F.W. Martin

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1985.153.43