Host – Pathogen Relationships And Biological Control Of Some Storage Rots Of Sweetpotato (Ipomea Batatas (L.) Lam) In Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria.

ABSTRACT

Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam) commonly known as Louisiana yam is a member of the family Convolvulaceae (morning glory family) which is made up of 45 genera and 1,000 plant species. Ipomoea batatas is the only member of this family that is of economic importance to man and livestock (Woolfe, 1992). Louisiana yam is a dicotyledonous, storage root crop reported to have originated from South America (Yildirim et al., 2011). Today, however, the crop is grown throughout Africa, Europe and the Americas. Though a perennial plant with long trailing and slender green or purple vines; sweetpotato is considered an annual in agronomy adaptable to different agro-ecological conditions (Burt, 2008) including extremely adverse environmental conditions of arid zones (Ahmad et al., 2014). It has a shorter growth period than most other root crops (3-5 months) and shows no marked seasonality (DAFF, 2011).