Effects of Cassava Planting Stake Orientation, Size, and Age on Growth and Storage Root Yield

Cassava is an important food and commercial crop in Nigeria with a higher demand than the current production. Intensification is resource demanding and risk avoidance of smallholders prevents major changes in the production systems. Simple, low-cost, low-labour intensification approaches may be more likely to be adopted. We conducted experiments on the growth and root yield of cassava as affected by the orientation, the provenance, and the size of cassava planting stakes. Plant establishment and survival to the harvest had a variety × stake orientation interaction. Survival was lower when using stakes from the top of the mother plant stem. Inserting the planting stakes vertically into the soil produced the highest root yields in 4 of the 6 trials. Slanted stake insertion produced root yields similar to vertical planting in 5 of 6 trials. On average across the trials planting horizontally produced 16.73, slanted produced 17.89 and vertical produced 17.40 Mg ha-1 fresh storage roots. First season planted cassava produced higher root yields when planted slated (17.83 Mg ha-1) and vertically (17.73 Mg ha-1) than when planted horizontally (14.37 Mg ha-1). Horizontal stake orientation had an advantage when planting in the second season (20.68 Mg ha-1) over slanted, (18.01 Mg ha-1) and vertical (16.86 Mg ha-1). The planting stake diameter affected root yields such that high diameter stakes produced lower root yields than low diameter stakes. Sprouting a large number of shoots in the early growth phase was related to low root yields, potentially caused by higher water consumption and later shoot losses affecting the initiation of root bulking and the root number per plant. The provenance within the mother plant stem, i.e., the age of the planting stakes did not affect the root yield. For first season planted cassava vertical or slanted insertion of stakes can be recommended. When planting in the second season, shortly before the dry season, soil moisture conditions need to be considered when choosing the planting stake orientation to ensure sprouting roots are able to reach soil layers providing sufficient water to establish.