International Journal of Horticulture, 2017, Vol.7, No. 27, 246-249
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2.2 Aeroponic growth chamber
Three aeroponic growth chambers each measuring 600 cm long x 130 cm wide x 85 cm deep were used. Each
chamber accommodated 180 plants at a spacing of 20 cm and represented a single replicate. The growth chambers
were setup inside a screen house measuring 30 m x 6 m and the roof was made of clear asbestos sheets covered
with a shade net on top to regulate the amount of sunlight entering and to lower the temperatures.
2.3 Data collection and analysis
Fifty two days after transplanting starter plant materials in the growth chambers, the first batch of minitubers were
harvested, subsequent harvests were done at 14 days interval and continued until 180 days after transplanting
making a total of 10 harvests. At each harvest, data were taken from the six middle plants in each treatment. The
minitubers were sorted and graded into three weights (0-5 g, 6-12 g, >12 g). Data from all the 10 harvests were
averaged before analysis. Data on the numbers of minitubers were subjected to the analysis of variance (ANOVA)
using Genstat statistical package 14th edition (Payne et al., 2011). Comparisons between treatments were made
using Fisher’s protected Least Significant Difference (LSD) at 5 % level of significance.
3 Results
In each season, interaction between the starter materials and cultivars were not significant (P≤0.05), therefore
cultivars and starter materials main effects were discussed separately. Generally, cultivar Tigoni produced
significantly (P≤0.05) more minitubers than Asante in both seasons (Table 1), the difference was more pronounced
among the small-sized tubers.
Table 1 The mean number of minitubers per plant for potato cultivars Tigoni and Asante
Cultivars
Season one
Season Two
Asante
Weight I
Weight II
Weight III
Total
Weight I
Weight II
Weight III Total
23.30a
11.50a
5.39a
39.63a
29.56a
11.93a
4.91a
46.39a
Tigoni
30.70b
13.07a
6.19a
49.96b
35.56b
10.80a
6.31b
52.67b
Means
27.00
12.29
5.79
44.80
32.56
11.36
5.61
49.39
L.S.D.
2.747
1.898
1.116
3.106
2.381
1.253
1.263
4.487
C.V
19.2
28.9
59.0
13.7
26.6
40.5
50.5
18.2
Note: Minituber weight (g): weight I = 0.1-5 g, weight II = 5.1-12 g, weight III = 12 g˂. Within a column, numbers followed by
different letters are significantly different at P≤0.05
The three starter materials differed significantly (P≤0.05) in their effect on the number of minitubers produced under
aeroponic conditions (Table 2). Among the three starter materials evaluated,
in-vitro
plantlets produced the highest
total number of minitubers per plant for all weights in both seasons (Table 2).
Table 2 The mean number of minitubers for the three starter materials (in vitro plantlets, stem cuttings and minitubers)
Starter materials
Season One
Season Two
Weight I
Weight II
Weight III Total
Weight I
Weight II
Weight III Total
In-vitro
37.86c
16.83b
12.58c
56.44c
43.36c
12.39b
7.19b
62.94c
Stem cuttings
24.06b
12.86a
6.61b
43.53b
33.47b
11.22ab
6.75b
51.44b
minitubers
19.08a
11.42a
3.92a
34.42a
20.83a
10.47a
2.89a
34.19a
Means
27.00
12.29
5.79
44.80
32.52
11.36
5.61
49.53
L.S.D.
3.364
2.324
1.367
3.805
2.916
1.534
1.547
4.487
C.V
26.6
40.5
50.5
18.2
19.2
28.9
59.0
13.7
Note: Minituber weight (g): weight I = 0.1-5 g, weight II = 5.1-12 g, weight III = 12 g˂. Within a column, numbers followed by
different letters are significantly different at P≤0.05
4 Discussion Conclusion and Recommendation
From the results Tigoni produced more minitubers per plant than cultivar Asante. This could have been due to a
longer growing period of Tigoni compared to Asante under aeroponic conditions. Tigoni is late maturing while
Asante is early maturing. Generally, there were more small-sized minitubers than larger ones (Table 1 and Table
