TY - JOUR AU - Sinkovič, Lovro AU - Pipan, Barbara AU - Meglič, Vladimir AU - Kunstelj, Nataša AU - Nečemer, Marijan AU - Zlatić, Emil AU - Žnidarčič, Dragan PY - 2017/12/11 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Genetic differentiation of Slovenian sweet potato varieties (Ipomoea batatas) and effect of different growing media on their agronomic and nutritional traits JF - Italian Journal of Agronomy JA - Ital J Agronomy VL - 12 IS - 4 SE - Original Articles DO - 10.4081/ija.2017.949 UR - https://www.agronomy.it/agro/article/view/949 SP - AB - The objectives of the present study were firstly to analyse the genetic relatedness among three Slovenian sweet potato varieties; and secondly to assess the effects of different growing media on selected agronomic and nutritional traits of these varieties. Tubers of three varieties (Lučka, Janja, Martina) with different skin/flesh colour were produced in planters under glasshouse conditions in five different growing media (perlite, peat, expanded clay, vermiculite, garden soil) from prior raised seedlings. Genetic analysis was performed using a set of eight single sequence repeats markers. According to Nei’s genetic distance and pairwise population Fst analysis, the most related varieties are Janja and Martina; in contrast, Lučka and Martina show the weakest genetic relationships. The following agronomic traits were evaluated: vine length, thickness of vine-base, number of branches, weight of above ground part, number of leaves plant–1, number of tubers plant–1 and tubers weight plant<sup>–1</sup>. Between nutritional traits total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant potential (AOP) and ascorbic acid content (AA) were determined in the range: 36.2 to 65.1 mg gallic acid equivalent 100 g<sup>–1</sup> fresh weight, 0.18 to 0.56 mg Trolox equivalents g<sup>–1</sup> FW and 13.7 to 23.5 mg 100 g<sup>–1</sup> FW, respectively. Significant interactions of growing media (factor A) × variety (factor B) were observed for thickness of vine-base, weight of above ground part, AOP, TPC and AA. Overall, results showed variation in varieties response to growing media. Growing media provide a discriminant classification of the sweet potato varieties according to their agronomic and nutritional traits. ER -