New sweet potato cultivation method for quality tuber production in home gardens

The current study was conducted to identify an appropriate method to cultivate sweet potato in home gardens to obtain maximum land use efficiency, good quality tuber production and higher yield. Six cultivation methods i.e., i) planting in 35×50 cm poly sacks, with branched stick support for vine (T1), ii) planting in 35×50 cm poly sacks, without support (T2), iii) planting in 35×50 cm black polythene bags, with branched stick support for vine (T3), iv) planting in 35×50 cm black polythene bags, without support (T4), v) planting in ground ridges with branched stick support for vine (T5), vi) planting in ground ridges as recommendation (T6), were evaluated to select the best method to cultivate sweet potato cultivar 'Gannoruwa white' in limited spaces of home gardens. T1 and T3 showed maximum land use efficiency of 0.2 m² vine^‑1 while other treatments used >1.5 m² vine^‑1. Higher yields were obtained in bag grown sweet potato, T1 (1.376 kg), T2 (1.245 kg), T3 (1.435 kg) and T4 (1.217 kg) than ground planted treatments, T5 (0.532 kg) and T6 (0.423 kg). Higher dry matter percentage of tubers was observed in T1 (21.4%) and T3 (19.4%) than in T2 (16.3%) and T4 (17.2%). Physical damage was not found in bag grown sweet potato, however, 55 and 35% of pest damages (rat and weevil) were observed in T2 and T4, respectively, while T1 and T3 had <5% pest damage. According to the results, T1 was selected as the best sweet potato cultivation method for home gardens.