Source-sink Relationships in Sweet Potato

Abstract

Abstract Relationships between storage root dry weight and vine dry weight, storage root number, and harvest index were determined from yield, date of harvest, and spacing trials. The relative importances of source, sink, and partitioning rate effects change during the growing season and differ among cultivars and groups of cultivars. Under Maryland conditions, vine effects predominate over storage root number effects, both in terms of effects on root yield and effects on apparent partitioning rates. Cultivars and groups of cultivars showing strong root sink effects are generally low-yielding.