Productivity of Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L) Lam) as Influenced by Fertilizer Application in Different Agro-ecologies in Ghana

Abstract Changes in soil nutrition caused by appropriate fertilization lead to an overall improvement in crop productivity. It is unknown whether different soil amendments could increase growth and yield of improved sweet potato varieties released by CSIR-Crops Research Institute in different agro-ecological environments in Ghana. The aim of the study was to assess the performance of four varieties of sweetpotato under different soil amendments in two different agroecological zones. Field experiments were conducted at CSIR-Crops Research Institute (CSIR-CRI) research fields at Fumesua and Ejura located in the deciduous forest zone and forest-savanna transition zone of Ghana respectively. The experiment design was 4 × 4 factorial in RCBD with three replications. The treatments were four varieties of sweet potato (Ligri, Bohye, Dadanyuie and Apomuden) and four fertilizer treatments (T1:200 kg NP2O5K2O/ha 15-15-15, T2: 200 kg NP2O5K2O /ha 15-15-15 + 50 kg K2O/ha, T3:200 kg NP2O5K2O /ha 15-15-15 + 100 kg K2O/ha and T4: Control). Fertilizer rates applied did not have any significant influence on growth and yield parameters evaluated. There were significant variety × location interactions (P