Dasbak M.A., Manggoel W. and Dawang C.N.
Sandy soil, Rice straw and 1:1 sawdust/wood shaving were used as sprouting media to assess the nursery sprouting of the minisetts of four Dioscorea rotundata yam cultivars namely Agumaga, Alushi, Dan Onitsha and Punch in a minisett technology of seed yam production study at Garkawa (Lat. 10.11’N and 8.21’E). Ware yam tuber sizes of the yam cultivars were cut into about 25g size, treated in a fungicide solution, cured and subjected to sprouting in the sprouting media contained in constructed nursery boxes in a completely randomized design (CRD) experiment with three replications. The boxes were kept in a nursery shade for four weeks. The sprouted minisetts were assessed for field establishment in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) experiment with three replications. The result showed that percentage sprouting of the yam minisetts differed significantly (P<0.05) among the sprouting media with the highest sprouting in the rice straw medium followed by sand soil and least in the 1:1 sawdust/wood shavings. Punch yam cultivar had the highest and significantly higher percentage sprouting compared to the other yam cultivars. The sprouting media did not significantly affect percentage field establishment of the sprouted minisetts but Punch and Alushi yam cultivars had significantly higher field establishment compared with Dan Onitsha and Agumaga. Field establishment of the sprouted minisetts was relatively high (78%).
Share this article