Abstract

The study investigates the response of Irish potato to some climate variables in Jos-South Local Government Area of Plateau State Nigeria The data collected include yield of Irish potato in tons per hectare and climatic data for twenty years 1989-2009 These data were analyzed using descriptive statistics in Statistical Package for Social Sciences SPSS and later on subjected to correlation and regression statistical techniques so as to determine the relationship between yield of Irish Potato and climatic elements for different phenological stages of crop growth The results show that there is no significant variation in most of the agro-climatic data between the different years High variations in the values of agro-climatic are only found within total rainfall rainfall in July May and to some extent rainfall in April and June Findings on the correlation analysis show that at sprouting to emergence vegetative stage maximum and minimum temperatures significantly correlate with Irish potato at 1 significance level respectively Also total rainfall correlates significantly with yield at tuber set initiation stage at 5 significance level In the same vein minimum temperature significantly correlates with yield at tuber bulking ripenin stage at 1 significant level Step-wise regression analysis selected two critical elements negatively influencing the yield of Irish Potato in Jos-South These are minimum temperature at tuber bulking ripening stage and rainfall in July