@article{Gooding:263668,
      recid = {263668},
      author = {Gooding, E. G. B. and Hoad, R. M.},
      title = {FIELD EXPERIMENTS ON YAMS IN BARBADOS 1965,-66},
      address = {1966-07-25},
      number = {2032-2017-4788},
      pages = {8},
      year = {1966},
      abstract = {The yam (Dioscorea!l!1!) is a staple, low priced  carbohydra te foodstruff in Barbados! and currently some  15,000 tons are produced annually as a c tach crop from  land which is in preparation for sugar cane. An export  trade has been started, which has considerable potential.  Planting of yams has hitherto normally been at 5 ft. x 5  ft. (25 sq. ft. per plant), the snme as for sugar cane, but  experiments in the 1965-66 season hllve clearly  demonstrated that on a wide range of soils and under a  􀀀r􀀀a􀀀~􀀀g􀀀e of rainfall conditions, closer spacing would  give higher yields per acre. In fact, no competition  between plants could be detected until the territory per  plant was reduced to 15 to 20 sq. ft.: at higher planting  densities the yield per plant and the size of tubers was  diminished (the smaller, better-shaped tubers resulting  were more desirable for export), but the yield per acre  increased within the, range of the experiment, i.e. 1,400  to 8,000 plants per acre. In commercial practice it  appeared that anywhere in Barbados a density of about 3,500  plants per acre would be practicable for preparation land  and would give substantially higher yields than are  currently obtained. Comparisons of cuI tivars; showed that  Puerto Rican Buck Yams, cuLtLva.r Barbados (from Trinidad)  and Greneda Hunt all gave yields comparable with the  commonly grown Crop Lisbon yams. Growth studies showed the  general trend of development of the aerial parts and  tubers; particularly notable was the very rapid z-ate of  bulking of the tubers between the 26th and 36th weeks from  planting - lending strong support to the planters'  contention that yams should be planted in May.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/263668},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.263668},
}