Possibilities for improvement of yield and dry matter content in sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L) Lam)

Twenty-one local cultivars collected from parts of India, 37 F1C2 and five F1C3 hybrid sweet potato were evaluated for tuber yield, dry matter, sweetness, texture and taste characters. Local cultivars exhibited wide range of dry matter (as high as 37.2%) with other quality traits, although the level of yield in them was of average ranking, Eight selections in F1C2 were quite promising with respect to their tuber yield, dry matter, sweetness, texture and taste. Selections IB-90-10-20; IB-90-12-29 and IB-90-11-1 showed significantly higher tuber yield. The total per cent increase for yield in hybrids over the control Kalmegh was 97.8 per cent (IB-90-11-1) to 243.4 per cent (IB-90-10-20). The dry matter in the superior selections was also quite high (32.8% in IB-90-12-29 and 30.1% in IB-90-10-20).