Weed control in sweetpotatoes

Abstract

The sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas (L) Lam) crop once established requires little field management apart from weed control Currently weeds are minimised by a combination of handweeding interrow cultivation and the application of paraquat (100 g ai/ha) over the crop In this study alternative herbicide treatments were examined in a field trial Handweeding produced the highest marketable yield (267 t/ha) significantly more than all other treatments apart from acetochlor (24 kg ai/ha) which produced 218 t/ha (P<0001) Weed numbers were significantly reduced to 35 (acetochlor) and 162 (paraquat) of the unweeded plots (P<0001) There was a strong negative relationship between early weed count and final total root yield (R² 840)