IMPROVING STORAGE ROOT PROTEIN CONTENT IN SWEET POTATO THROUGH OPEN-MATING POLLINATION

Abstract

A field experiment was conducted at the Research Station of Brawijaya University from April to August 2009.  An augmented, randomized complete block design with seven blocks was utilized with seven parental clones as standard treatments and seven half-sib families as augmented treatments. Each block consisted of seven parental clones plus one randomly assigned family of half-sibs. In addition, the first block contained 29 accessions, the 2^nd block had 120, the 3^rd block had 194, the 4^thblock had 45, the 5^th block had 28, the 6^th block had 186, and the 7^th block had 108. Ten cuttings of each parental clone was planted in each block, along with a single plant of each accession at a spacing of 75 cm in the row and 100 cm between the rows. There were five improved clones identified with high protein content and high yield. Broad-sense heritability and genetic advance of storage root weight, storage root number, percentage dry matter and protein content were high, whereas vegetative biomass and harvest index were low. The results showed that storage root weight, storage root number, percentage dry matter and protein content could be used as the basis for a crop improvement program in sweet potato.

Keywords: broad sense heritability, expected genetic advance, improved clones, high yied, protein content, sweet potato