Pan-Canadian testing of early, high-yielding sweet potato varieties

The sweet potato is a tropical plant native to Central and South America, with most commercial production occurring in warm regions with long frost-free periods.

Traditionally, the leading commercial varieties grown in Canada have been developed in the southern United States with its conducive climate. Such varieties can take up to 132 days to reach maturity. This has become problematic for Canadian growers who can’t plant their sweet potatoes in early spring due to cold soil temperatures and must harvest early in the fall season before the first frost, resulting in a shorter growing season. One strategy to assist growers in harvesting sweet potatoes in Canada is to develop better-adapted varieties that are earlier maturing and high-yielding.

This is exactly what Vineland has done. In 2022, five new varieties began evaluations across Canada including locations in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec. These trials have reported many promising outcomes of varieties that can be harvested 98 to 105 days after planting. This is ideal for Canadian growers because they can harvest at least 24 days earlier than the top commercial varieties and thereby reduce the risk of frost damage to their crop.

Additional benefits also include yield potential of U.S grade No. 1 ranging between 80 to 240 per cent higher when compared to leading commercial varieties based on one year of data.

Pan-Canadian trials were also conducted in 2023 and will continue in 2024.

Pictures 1 and 2 (top row): Harvest of a single sweet potato plant grown at Vineland, ON in 2019. 
Picture 3 (left bottom row): Sweet potato trial on plastic mulch in Outlook, SK (photo credit: Jazeem Wahab, PhD, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada).
Picture 4 (right bottom row): Sweet potato trial on bare ground in Outlook, SK (photo credit: Jazeem Wahab, PhD, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada).

For more information, please contact:
Valerio Primomo, PhD, Research Scientist, Vegetable Breeding
valerio.primomo@vinelandresearch.com