Basic Seed Yam Tubers Production Using Aeroponics Technology

The Aeroponics System was one of the targeted technologies for seed yam propagation through the project “Yam Improvement for Income and Food Security in West Africa (YIIFSWA)” (Maroya et al. 2014a). Initial testing of yam propagation in aeroponics was successful with generation of micro tubers Maroya et al. 2014b. The number of tubers per plant, the tubers weight per plant and the average weight per tuber varied with the genotype and the age at harvest. A total of 1527 tubers were harvested from 486 plants on 9 genotypes. General average weight is 34.8 ± 1.5g per tuber and average of 3.1±0.1 tubers per plant. The highest number of tubers per plant (20) was recorded by TDr 95/18544. When considering the genotypes the average tubers weight per plant is 109.3 ± 6.6 but the highest weight of tubers per plant (1048.6 g) was recorded by TDa 2014 and the highest number of tubers per plant (20). The performance of the number of tubers per plant is linked to the genotype and within the same genotype varies with plants age.  At 13 months, the plants the number of tuber per plant is 1.8±0.1 for TDr 97/00917, 3.0±0.7 for TDr 89/02665 and 5.1±0.3 for TDr 95/18544. These numbers of tubers per plant changed to 6.3±0.2 for TDr 95/18544 at 16 months and to 4.0±1.0 for TDr 97/00917 at 32 months. Same for the tuber weight per plant that is also dependent of the canopy development. Same observations for tuber weight per plant.