Data for: Changes in cassava growth with fertiliser application under different water stress conditions
Description
The data consists of a few growth characteristics taken from cassava grown in pots, in a screen-house. The data was collected from a study that looked at how nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) fertiliser application influenced cassava growth on nutrient poor soils, under different water stress conditions. Two cassava varieties commonly grown in Mtwara region, in Tanzania, were used. One of the varieties was an improved cassava variety called Kiroba and the other was a local cassava variety called Salanga. The cassava varieties were subjected to three water stress treatments. This was accomplished by leaving some plants severely water stressed at 30% field capacity (FC), others mildly water stressed at 60% FC and the rest zero stressed at 100% FC. All plants were kept well-watered to 100% FC up to 70 DAP; the water stress treatments were only begun at 71 DAP and were continued for 20 days, until 90 DAP. The cassava varieties were also subjected to four fertiliser treatments, which consisted of a control (no fertiliser), a sole K fertiliser treatment (25 mg K/kg), a moderate N, P and K fertiliser treatment (25 mg N + 5 mg P + 25 mg K /kg) and a high N, P and K fertiliser treatment (50 mg N + 13 mg P + 50 mg K /kg). The growth characteristics collected included the dry shoot mass of cassava plants, the widths and lengths of the central lobes of cassava leaves and the number of new leaves formed on each plant during the water stress period.
Files
Steps to reproduce
Each cassava plant was cut at a height of 1 cm from the soil surface and dried to a constant mass in an air forced oven before weighing them to determine their dry mass in grams (g). The widths and lengths of the central lobe of cassava leaves was used to assess leaf size. A ruler was used to measure the lengths and widths of the central lobe of cassava leaves. A fully expanded cassava leaf taken from a mid-height position of the remaining leaf canopy of each plant, was selected for this purpose. The leaves formed on plants, during the 20 days of water stress, were counted to determine the number of new leaves formed per plant under water stress. Note that the data is presented as a Table in an Excel Workbook. The first Sheet (Symbols) of the Excel Workbook gives the symbols and units used to describe the data, while the second Sheet (Growth data) contains the actual data for the growth characteristics collected during the experiment. The pot experiment was a 2×3×4 factorial combination experiment in a randomised complete block design (RCBD) that was replicated six times. Only data for five blocks has however been given.