Release of Five Sweetpotato Cultivars in Uganda

Origin 'Bwanjule', 'New Kawogo', 'Tanzania', and 'Wagabolige' are superior Ugandan farmers' cultivars selected from a collection of 380 landrace accessions assembled at Namulonge Agricultural and Animal Production Research Institute (NAARI) in 1987 and subsequently evaluated in trials at NAARI and elsewhere in Uganda.Pedigrees of these landrace cultivars are not known, but they are assumed to be chance seedlings selected by farmers.On the basis of numbers of landrace cultivars, and the adaptation of these cultivars to local conditions, including diseases and pests, eastern Africa is considered to be a secondary center of sweetpotato genetic diversity.'Sowola', designated NIS/90/389a during testing, is a seedling selection from the sweetpotato breeding program at NAARI, and was selected from bulked seed from a polycross of 18 parents made from 1989 to 1990.The progenitors in this polycross block were popular farmers' cultivars from various parts of Uganda as follows: 'Odeyo cani', 'Bwom dege', and 'Cwara opoko', from Gulu District; 'Tanzania', from Soroti District; 'Siliki', 'Mpaeifumbiro', and 'Wagabolige', from Jinja District; 'Katalaako', from Iganga District; 'Tororo 1', 'Tororo 2', and 'Tororo 3', from Tororo District; 'Nylon', 'Bugerere', 'Sukali', and 'Mwezigumu' from Nakasongola District; and 'Nantongo', 'Kawogo', and 'Mwezigumu' from Mpigi District.Because of the open-pollinated and bulk nature of the seed population, the pedigree of 'Sowola' is not known.At the time of official release, 'Bwanjule' and 'Wagabolige' were of localized importance in their areas of original collection in Uganda, and 'New Kawogo' and 'Tanzania' were already widely grown by Ugandan farmers.'New Kawogo' is the predominant cultivar grown in the tall grassland agroecological zone near Kampala.'Tanzania' is a commercially important cultivar widely grown in the drier northeastern districts of Kumi and Soroti.On the basis of morphological characteristics, performance and quality characteristics, 'Tanzania' also appears to be widely grown in Tanzania (where it is known as 'SPN/O'), Malawi (where it is known as 'Kenya'), Kenya (where it is known as 'Enaironi'), and Zambia (where it is know as 'Chingovwa').'Tanzania' is probably the most widely grown sweetpotato cultivar in Sub-Saharan Africa.