Variability For Root Fresh Weight Among Tropical Type Varieties Of Sweetpotato

Frequently, farmers in Puerto Rico complain that the tuberous roots from the recommended varieties differ in size, shape and weight, a situation that increases difficulties for marketing. Baseline information on the magnitude of losses related to inappropriate root size is not available. The objective was to assess roots' fresh weight distribution among varieties of sweetpotato of common use in Puerto Rico. Four varieties were grown in a location on the southern coastal valley. For this study roots harvested at 162 days were selected. Roots were weighed individually. Distribution of the individual root fresh weight for each variety was compared to theoretical distributions by using the Kolmogorov-Smimov Test. There was a high frequency of light-weighted roots. The Normal Distribution does not describe adequately the data for root fresh weight distribution from any of the varieties. Because of a high frequency of roots having lightweight, Lognormal and Weibull Distributions appear more adequate than the Normal Distribution to describe the actual root weight distribution. Roots end to be too small for the market, thus for commercial purposes, results stress that a relatively high percentage of photosynthates accumulated in the roots are lost. More emphasis on the selection for this characteristic is needed.