Characterization of cassava stem cutting quality by volume density

The vigor of cassava stem cutting is an important factor that affects spouting ability, vegetative growth of plant and tentatively final root yield. It has been shown that quality of stem cuttings is associated to their position in the mother stem, for which only the middle part of stem is recommended for plantation. To exhaustively utilize mother stem for yield effective plantation, we explored the possibility of using volume density (VD) as an indicative factors for cutting quality assessment. Here, KU50 stem cuttings with varying VD were characterized based upon growth potentials (i.e., percentage of sprouting, total height of shoot, and relative growth rate), photosynthetic ability, and plant biomass development and storage root yield. For a mother stem, the cuttings were divided into 3 groups based on VD, Group I: VD < 0.6, Group II:0.6 < VD < 0.9, and Group III: VD > 0.9 g/cm³. The results showed that stem cutting with VD about 0.6-0.9 g/cm³ had high growth potential and root yield, whereas that with VD less than 0.6 g/cm³ showed poor growth ability and some died after a month of planting. While the photosynthetic capabilites were found comparable for all plants, the stem cutting with VD above 0.6 g/cm³ had high ratio of storage root to shoot, suggesting higher tendency of root bulking. Taken together, this study highlighted the association of volume density to the potential of stem cutting, which will later be exploited for cutting quality assessment in cassava plantation.