RESEARCH ARTICLE
Response of Soil Chemical Properties, Performance and Quality of Sweet Potato (Ipomoea Batatas L.) to Different Levels of K Fertilizer on a Tropical Alfisol
Christopher M. Aboyeji1, Aruna O. Adekiya1, *, Oluwagbenga Dunsin1, Ojo T. V. Adebiyi1, Charity O. Aremu1, Temidayo A. J. Olofintoye2, Babatunde O. Ajiboye1, Iyiola O. Owolabi3
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2019Volume: 13
First Page: 58
Last Page: 66
Publisher ID: TOASJ-13-58
DOI: 10.2174/1874331501913010058
Article History:
Received Date: 08/01/2019Revision Received Date: 18/03/2019
Acceptance Date: 31/03/2019
Electronic publication date: 30/04/2019
Collection year: 2019
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
The optimum rate of nutrient must be defined with reference to soil properties for individual crops and soil.
Objective:
Field experiments were carried out in 2015 and 2016 cropping seasons to determine the various levels (0, 40, 80, 120 and 160 kg ha-1) of potassium fertilizer (muriate of potash , KCl), on soil chemical properties, leaf nutrient contents, performance and proximate quality of sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas L.).
Method:
The five treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replicates.
Results:
Studies showed that K fertilizer in both the years significantly influenced N, P and K concentrations compared with the control and also increased the soil concentrations of these nutrients from 0 - 160 kg ha-1 K fertilizer. However, soil K only increased up to 80 kg ha-1 fertilizer after which there was a decrease. There was a reduction in the values of Ca and Mg in the soil as the levels of K increased. Leaf nutrient concentration of the sweet potato was consistent with the values of soil chemical properties recorded. 80 kg ha-1 K fertilizer was observed to be the highest value of sweet potato growth and tuber yield after which there was a reduction. The yield decrease was adduced to excessive K application leading to imbalanced sweet potato plant nutrition compared with N, P, Ca and Mg. K fertilizer significantly influenced moisture, vitamin C and carbohydrate compared with the control. The highest values of fibre and protein were obtained at 80 and 40 kg ha-1 K fertilizer, respectively. Dry matter and fat contents of the sweet potato reduced by K application from 0 - 160 kg ha-1 application rate.
Conclusion:
For best tuber yield, quality and economic response of K fertilizer to the sweet potato in the agro-ecological zone or in other similar soil conditions elsewhere in the tropics could be achieved by applying 80 kg ha-1 K fertilizer.
