Effect of Time of Seed - Bed Preparation on Soil Properties and Performance of Water Yam in Owerri Southeast, Nigeria

Field experiment was conducted between the months of February and November, 2016 to evaluate the effect of age of seed-bed preparation on soil properties and performance of water yam in Owerri, southeastern Nigeria. Treatments consisted of four time of seed-bed preparations namely 0, 3, 6, and 9 weeks intervals, laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Se- lected physical and chemical properties of the soil and agronomic parameters of the test crop such as tuber yield (TY) and tuber number (TN) were measured. Data generated were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the signifi- cant means separated using the Fisher’s Least Significant Difference (FLSD) at P=0.05. The statistical results showed that at harvest, the 0 week and 3 weeks tillage intervals significantly improved the tuber yield and tuber number, respec- tively. Again, the result of the seed-bed preparation at post-harvest revealed that the 0 week interval proved to cause the highest improvement of the soil physical and chemical properties. Essentially, the effect of age of seed-bed preparation on soil C/N ratio indicate that the 3 weeks interval treatment increased the C/N ratio. It was concluded that the 3 weeks tillage treatment showed the highest level of improvement of both the tuber yield and the soil C/N ratio at post-harvest seed- bed preparation, while the 0 week treatment recorded the highest improvement of the tuber number at harvest and of the soil physical and chemical properties at post-harvest, for most of the studied parameters.