EVALUATION OF NEW IRISH POTATO (Solanum tuberosum L.) VARIETIES FOR YIELD POTENTIAL IN ZIMBABWE

Abstract

Irish

potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is an

important crop in Zimbabwe due to its nutritional and economic worth. The

upgrading of its status to a strategic food crop by the government in 2012 has

created the need for research to increase production, increase germplasm and

diversify staple food crops. A study to

investigate the yield potential of new Irish potato

varieties was carried out at the Scientific Industrial Research and Development

Centre between June and November 2015. Aim of the study was to evaluate new

varieties to introduced and released in Zimbabwe. The varieties BRI1,

BRI2, BRI3, BRI4, BRI5, BRI6 and BRI7 were grown with the controls being locally

released varieties Amethyst and BP1 which are long and short season varieties

respectively. The experiment was laid out in a randomised complete block design

with 9 treatments and slope as the blocking factor. Analysis of variance was

done using Genstat 14th edition. Data on yield, number of days to 50

% flowering and number of days to 95 % maturity was recorded. Analysis of variance

showed that there was a significant difference (P9.89 t/ha respectively. There was a significant difference (P