Table 1 Plant growth comparison of sweet potato ( Ipomoea batatas ) and mile-a-minute ( Mikania micrantha ) under mono and mixed culture conditions

Total shoot Length (cm)

sweet potato

802.55 ± 21.12a

729.57 ± 19.41b

713.92 ± 17.43b

668.04 ± 15.74c

588.70 ± 14.55d

519.64 ± 10.51e

-

mile-a-minute

-

460.61 ± 15.15e

466.99 ± 14.42e

680.32 ± 18.68d

845.31 ± 22.84c

1282.43 ± 26.63b

1426.84 ± 34.99a

Main stem length (cm)

sweet potato

335.50 ± 12.46a

323.06 ± 9.35ab

318.17 ± 10.45b

255.68 ± 8.59c

241.54 ± 8.02d

214.66 ± 7.24e

-

mile-a-minute

-

209.57 ± 10.13d

206.94 ± 9.46d

255.15 ± 9.36c

329.26 ± 8.45b

435.40 ± 9.84a

431.33 ± 13.38a

Total branch length (cm)

sweet potato

467.05 ± 15.25a

406.51 ± 11.54b

395.75 ± 10.36b

412.36 ± 12.31b

347.16 ± 9.88c

304.98 ± 5.69d

-

mile-a-minute

-

251.04 ± 9.26e

260.05 ± 10.95e

425.17 ± 15.23d

516.05 ± 17.58c

847.03 ± 20.14b

995.51 ± 28.36a

Branch number

sweet potato

10.5 ± 0.4c

13.4 ± 0.6a

13.3 ± 0.5a

11.4 ± 0.5b

11.9 ± 0.5b

10.4 ± 0.5c

-

mile-a-minute

-

12.6 ± 0.5d

12.5 ± 0.6d

15.4 ± 0.8c

16.2 ± 0.7c

23.8 ± 0.9b

25.2 ± 1.2a

Internode length (cm)

sweet potato

6.75 ± 0.04a

6.78 ± 0.03a

6.53 ± 0.04b

5.78 ± 0.07d

5.89 ± 0.04c

5.24 ± 0.05e

-

mile-a-minute

-

7.74 ± 0.15c

10.78 ± 0.12a

7.65 ± 0.36c

8.81 ± 0.13b

10.75 ± 0.19a

10.54 ± 0.14a

Leafstalk length (cm)

sweet potato

17.18 ± 0.51a

16.82 ± 0.29a

14.70 ± 0.22b

14.01 ± 0.31c

13.98 ± 0.25c

13.71 ± 0.26c

-

mile-a-minute

-

5.68 ± 0.16e

6.13 ± 0.11d

6.57 ± 0.08c

6.76 ± 0.12b

7.08 ± 0.11a

7.06 ± 0.12a

Leaf area (cm²)

sweet potato

101.25 ± 1.78a

96.84 ± 1.68b

90.08 ± 1.05c

88.78 ± 0.55c

85.82 ± 0.48d

83.68 ± 0.46e

-

mile-a-minute

-

12.45 ± 0.12f

13.23 ± 0.09e

14.36 ± 0.35d

16.41 ± 0.36c

17.05 ± 0.45b

21.21 ± 0.25a

Flower number per shoot

sweet potato

24.1 ± 0.7c

27.3 ± 0.9a

26.8 ± 0.7ab

26.3 ± 0.5ab

25.7 ± 0.9b

23.4 ± 0.4c

-

mile-a-minute

-

420.5 ± 25.4e

515.9 ± 30.1d

755.2 ± 33.7c

731.5 ± 32.1c

1150.2 ± 38.5b

1506.4 ± 65.7a

Adventitious root weight (g)

sweet potato

1.25 ± 0.06b

1.36 ± 0.04a

1.39 ± 0.04a

1.05 ± 0.02c

1.04 ± 0.02c

0.99 ± 0.02c

-

mile-a-minute

-

0.34 ± 0.04c

0.37 ± 0.03c

0.45 ± 0.03b

0.47 ± 0.02b

0.49 ± 0.03b

0.63 ± 0.04a

Total biomass (g)

sweet potato

53.27 ± 0.73a

46.15 ± 0.23b

42.83 ± 0.43c

34.05 ± 0.36d

31.84 ± 0.22e

23.14 ± 0.19f

-

mile-a-minute

-

3.35 ± 0.03f

5.26 ± 0.08e

6.35 ± 0.03d

8.29 ± 0.12c

16.15 ± 0.43b

25.18 ± 1.35a