The extension of the simplified Hungarian sowing structure which is based on only a few crops is a fundamental agronomic task in the Hungarian crop production. The inclusion of specialty crops such as sweet potato into the production may be a contributing factor. Sweet potato has a tropical origin and its production in Hungary raises several technological questions. In order to examine these issues, a small-plot field experiment was established on chernozem soil in the demonstration garden of the University of Debrecen, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, Institute of Crop Science in 2017. Based on our experiment results, using production site- and cultivar-specific technology, sweet potato can be successfully produced in Hungary. In this respect, the proper selection of the given cultivar is of great importance. The cultivar Ásotthalmi 12 provided significantly higher yield (23.2–50.7 t ha-1) than Norangel (22.6–36.2 t ha-1). As opposed to the available technical literature sources, yield obtained in flat planting was higher than that of ridge planting. In ridge planting, the yield of Ásotthalmi 12 was between 32.2–50.7 t ha-1 and that of Norangel was between 24.1–36.2 t ha-1, while in the case of ridge planting, the respective yield ranged between 23.2–39.4 t ha-1 and 22.6–34.7 t ha-1. Based on the performed experiments, the yield of the different sweet potato cultivars was higher in the case of 0.75 m row spacing, compared to 1.0 m. The change of row spacing was cultivarspecific. The difference between the yields obtained in the case of both row spacings was 8967–11333 kg ha-1 in the case of the Ásotthalmi 12 cultivar and only 1501–1514 kg ha-1 in the case of Norangel. The proportion of non-marketable yield (9.97–18.03%) was mainly affected by the planting method (flat planting is better) and the cultivar (Ásotthalmi 12 performed better), while the impact of row spacing was not significant.

Keywords: sweet potato, cultivar, planting method, row spa