Performance Study of selected Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato Varieties in North Eastern Bangladesh

The study was conducted in Nilgaon and Chamurakandi of Sylhet Sadar Upazila under Sylhet district during the 2018-2019 crop seasons. Three orange fleshed sweet potato varieties (BARI SP-04, BARI SP-11 andBARI SP-12)and a local genotype were used in this study. The ultimate purpose of the experiment was to investigate the yield potentiality, suitability and acceptability of those varieties and genotype. The experiment was performed using 10ft x 10ft plot size with 3 replicas following the RCB design. The study showed hat BARI SP-12 performed better and local genotype performed least at both places. In Nilgaon BARI SP-12 gave the highest yield (35.27 t ha-1) followed by BARI SP-04 (34.14 t ha-1),BARI SP-11 (32.26 t ha-1) and the lowest yield was documented in local genotype (24.10 t ha-1). BARI SP-12 also produced the highest yield (32.01 t ha-1) at Chamurakandi followed by BARI SP-04 (28.43 t ha-1),BARI SP-11 (28.00 t ha-1) and the lowest was documented in local genotype (19.46 t ha-1).However, the mean yield of two places appeared the highest in BARI SP-12 (33.64 t ha-1) followed by BARI SP-04 (31.28 t ha-1) and BARI SP-11 (30.13 t ha-1) and the lowest was found in local genotype (21.78 t ha-1). The average foliage yield of two places ranged from 4.82 to 5.38 t ha-1. And no significant variations were found in foliage yield and foliage coverage (%) at both places.In the case of organoleptic assessment of storage roots and leaves, BARI SP-04 was the best choice by the respondents due to its appearances, color, taste, texture and fiber content; BARI SP-12 also got merely similar ranked by the respondents. Considering the yield potential and community acceptability, both BARI SP-04 and BARI SP-12 are suitable and potential for homestead food production system in north eastern region of Bangladesh.


INTRODUCTION
Bangladesh is located in the South Asia between 20°34' to 26°38' N latitude and 88°01' to 92°42' E longitude with an area of 147570 sq km (Sunny et al., 2020a). The North-Eastern part of Bangladesh especially the Sylhet district is the most traditional in agriculture. In addition, floods caused by heavy rain in June-September adversely affected agriculture (Sunny et al., 2020b). On the other hand scarcity of irrigation water restricted agricultural production especially vegetables that caused price hike due to limited access of vegetables (Islam et al., 2018). The soil productivity is also low comparing with the other part of Bangladesh due to high acidic soil condition. Moreover that the people of the Sylhet regions usually cultivate Aman rice in their crop land and rest times keep fallow. After harvesting Aman rice, some produce Boro rice and some produce vegetables. However, most of the people usually produce vegetables in winter rather than summer due to abundant rainfall and waterlogging .Due to external market situation and climate change in part, vegetables usually grow towards the end of the winter that meets the needs of the household in this area. The poor people mostly intake potato and aroids as vegetables from local market during summer. Hence, the people especially women and children are suffering from hidden hunger due to minimal intake of vitamins and minerals from plant sources.  21 674 According to the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS 2014) Sylhet division has the highest rates of child stunting (49.6%) and under-five mortality (67 per 1,000 live births) in the country. Sylhet also has the lowest female literacy rates, the worst school attendance rates for adolescent girls, the highest gender inequality scores, the worst performance against women's empowerment indicators, and overall the lowest proportion of empowered women in the nation. Suchana is a comprehensive project has been working through nutrition sensitive and nutrition specific intervention in Sylhet region to reduce chronic malnutrition of below 2 children. According to Global Nutrition Report 2018 about 22% and 36% children are suffering with stunting globally and nationally respectively.
Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is one of the most traditional root crops in many countries like Bangladesh. Its can play an important role in the context of food security in Bangladesh (Hossain and Siddique, 1985). Bangladesh is challenged by hidden food insecurity issues, like micro-nutrient deficiency among small farming households in rural areas, in which more than 43% of preschool age children are stunted and 56% are underweight (USAID Horticulture Project, 2013). Sweet potato is one of the most important food crops in terms of caloric value per cultivated area (Scott et. al., 1992). Sweet potato is remarkable because of its high yield, palatability and crude protein content. It's a traditionally regarded as a 'poor man's crop as it is consumed by poor households. It gives satisfactory yield under adverse climatic and soil conditions, as well as under low or non-use of external inputs (Carey et al., 1999 andKuddus et al., 2018). The sweet potato is rich in carbohydrates and vitamins (Villareal, 1982) and is a potential ally in the fight against vitamin A deficiency. Indeed, recent research results indicate increased availability of beta-carotene (Provitamin A) and crude protein for good nutrition and health (Ukom et al., 2009). Orange-fleshed varieties are rich in betacarotene, while purple-fleshed varieties are high in anthocyanins, two important antioxidants thought to prevent chronic heart diseases and cancer (Teow et al., 2007). Significant amounts of essential minerals are found in the sweet potato, including manganese, copper, iron and potassium (Huang, 1982 is very easy and to some extent drought and acidic tolerance so it could be one of the nutrient sources for poor community at homestead food production system in Sylhet as well as Bangladesh. Considering above situation the researchers carried out a participatory performance study with four BARI released variety (BARISP-04, BARISP-07, BARISP-08 and BARISP-13) in Suchana working area in 2016-2017 production period and BARISP-04 variety performance found better in terms of production and community acceptability. The present study has been conducted to identify more suitable & potential variety for Sylhet region in homestead vegetable production system by involving women members. The researchers has selected BARI released another two variety BARI SP-11, BARI SP-12 and a local genotype to compare production as well as community acceptability (Fig.3). Physical appearance of root in raw & boil condition). So the aim of the study is to find out suitable, potential and acceptable variety for leaf and root production with high micronutrient content by involving women members of the marginal farming households.

II. MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was carried out at two locations of Sylhet region during 2018-19 cropping season. Vines of three BARI developed sweet potato varieties viz. BARI SP-04, BARI Leaf production data was collected after one month of transplanting & root production data collected at final harvesting time and sensory test was also done after final harvesting. At harvesting stage, participatory variety selection as well as organoleptic evaluation test for leaves and storage roots was done at both locations. Twenty and twenty one participants (scientists, extension staffs and farmers) were gathered to choose better one of the studied sweetpotato variety for storage roots and leaves, respectively at the time of harvesting and the process was done in two separate days. At first, the author briefed the trial objectives and the procedure of evaluation. Then individual voting was done to select the best variety for storage roots and leaves. Each participant tested the variety one after one and placed tick mark range from 1-5. Two kilograms of sweetpotato roots from each variety was boiled. Each boiled variety was placed on a separate plate and clearly identified by number as well as name tag. On the other side's 500 gm of leaves of each variety was fried with equal amount oil and spices by one cook. In case of root, each panelist was given an evaluation form which was used to record the evaluation in reference to the appearance, flesh color, fiber, texture and taste of each variety. And in case of leaves, panelist provided vote for appearance, texture and taste also. The procedures of evaluation were explained to the members of the panels using simple words.

Evaluation of storage roots:
a    The factor storage roots weight plant -1 , significant effect was recorded in case all the varieties and both locations at p< 0.05 level. The highest storage roots weight plant -1 was recorded (0.94 kg and 0.85 kg) in BARI SP-12 at location 1 & location 2 respectively while lowest was observed in (0.64 kg and 0.52 kg ) in local genotype at location 1 & location 2 respectively ( Table 3). The mean root weight plant -1 ranged from 0.58 kg to 0.90 kg. Considering the factor storage root weight plot -1 there is significant variations were found at p< 0.05 level among the varieties in both locations. In location 1, the maximum root weight plot -1 (32.78 Kg) was noted in BARI SP-12 followed by BARI SP-04 (31.73 kg) and BARI SP-11 (29.98 kg) while the lowest was in local genotype (22.40 kg). And in location 2, the highest root weight plot -1 (29.75 kg) was also found in BAR SP-12 followed by (26.95 Kg & 26.43 Kg) in BARI SP-11 & BARI SP-04 respectively but the lowest root weight plot -1 was found in local genotype (18.08 kg). The average root weight plot -1 of two locations ranged from 20.24 kg to 31.27 kg (Table 3). From the study of Kuddus et al., 2018 was found that storage root weight plant -1 and plot -1 also varied significantly in different variety and different location.

Means with the same letters in a column are not significantly different at 5% level of probability
The yield contributing factor storage roots per hectare varied significantly at p< 0.05 level among the studied varieties in both locations. Due to higher adaptability & suitability of Sylhet climatic condition, BARI SP-12 produced the highest yield (35.27 t ha -1 ) followed by BARI SP-04 (34.14 t ha 1 ) and BARI SP-11 (32.26 t ha -1 ) while the lowest was produced by local genotype (24.10 t ha 1 ) in location 1. At location 2 BARI SP-12 also produced the highest yield (32.10 t ha 1 ) which was statistically significant with BARI SP-04 (28.43 t ha 1 ) and BARI SP-11 (28.00 t ha 1 ) while, the lowest was also produced by local genotype (19.46 t ha 1 ). The result trend of location 2 was found comparatively lower than location 1 it may due to soil condition and other intercultural practices done by the farmers. However, the mean yield of two locations appeared the highest in BARI SP-12 (33.64 t ha 1 ) followed by BARI SP-04 (31.28 t ha 1 ) and BARI SP-11 (30.13 t ha 1 ) and the lowest was recorded in local genotype (19.46 t ha 1 ) (

Means with the same letters in a column are not significantly different at 5 % level of probability
Organoleptic evaluation of sweetpotato leaves and storage roots: Storage root evaluation: Twenty participants (male and female farmers, scientists and extension staffs) participated in the organoleptic evaluation of storage roots. Considering appearance of the roots, flesh color, taste, presence of fiber and flesh texture, BARI SP-04 ranked first followed by BAR SP-12 while participants' choice was the poorest to BAR SP-11 followed by local genotype (Fig. 1). From the study of (Kuddus et al., 2018) same result trend was found and evaluation panel selected BARI SP-04 as the best one. Leaves evaluation: During leaves evaluation, 21 participants (male and female farmers, scientists and extension staffs) participated in the organoleptic evaluation of leaves. The evaluation was done in same way in reference to the appearance, texture and taste of each variety. Considering appearance of the fried leaves, texture and taste, BARI SP-04 ranked first followed by BAR SP-12 while participants' choice was the poorest to BAR SP-11 followed by local genotype (Fig. 2).

IV. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
According to yield and yield contributing characters, BARI SP-12 was the highest root producer among the studied varieties and genotype followed by BARI SP-04 and BARI SP-11. And the organoleptic evaluation of roots and leaves BARI SP-04 and BARI SP-12 both were found good to excellent and accepted by the farmers. Considering the all aspects, BARI SP-12 and BARI SP-04 both varieties performed better in homestead food production system in north eastern Bangladesh. So, more pragmatic and nutrition sensitive initiative should be taken by the government and nongovernment organizations to promote theses verities up to the marginal community.