Effect of Planting Material on Plant Characters, Yield, and Yield Components of Tanier (Xanthosoma caracu Koch and Bouché) in Southern Florida

Abstract

The effect of the type of vegetative planting material on white fleshed tanier (Xanthosoma caracu Koch & Bouché) plant characters, yield, and yield components was determined at 10.5 and 12.5 months after planting. No statistically significant differences were found between yields of plants propagated from apical (crowns) or nonapical main corm sections or from small whole secondary cormels. However, cormels and crowns produced plants with larger yields of total and of marketable cormels at 10.5 months, and larger yields at 12.5 months after planting than plants f rom sections. Sections yielded less, produced fewer cormels per hectare and developed more multiple shoots per plant than crowns or cormels. Sections produced the lowest number of plants per hectare and the lowest number of plants with one shoot per seed piece per hectare. Cormels produced fewer sprouts at 2 months after planting than sections or crowns, and yielded more at 10.5 and 12.5 months than sections, but did not increase in yield between 10.5 and 12.5 months after plant ing as did the crowns or sections. Thus, plants propagated from cormels required a shorter growing season from planting to harvest. There were more marketable cormels per plant when cormels were used for planting. Crowns yielded slightly less (0.6 metric tons/ha) than cormels at 10.5 months, and slightly more (0.5 metric tons/ ha) at 12.5 months, after planting.