Potassium Fertigation With Deficit Irrigation Improves the Nutritive Quality of Cassava

Water deficit limits cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) productivity in drought-prone areas and alters the nutritive quality of the crop. Potassium (K) may mitigate the effects of water deficit and improve the nutritional content of cassava, which would alleviate malnutrition among the human population in the tropics who depend on cassava as a staple food. Pot experiments were conducted under controlled glasshouse conditions to investigate the influence of deficit irrigation and K fertigation on the nutritive and anti-nutritive quality of biofortified cassava during the early growth phase. Treatments initiated at 30 days after planting were three irrigation doses (30, 60, 100% pot capacity) that were split to five K (0.01, 1, 4, 16, and 32 mM) concentrations. Plants were harvested at 90 days after planting, and the starch, energy, carotenoid, crude protein, fiber, minerals, and cyanide concentration of the leaves and roots were determined. Irrigation and K treatments showed significant (P