Dr Touseef has done Ph.D and has served at prestigious instituions like CPRI Modipuram and ICAR in the potato domain. He brings an experience of over 13 years specially in the potato domain.
Potato is cool season crop. It grows very well where suitable moisture and fertile soil is available with proper drainage facility. Bright sunshine, low relative humidity (60-80%) and temperature is suited for better growth and development of the crop. This is grown in winter in plains while in summer season in northern hills. Potato is long day plant but some varieties can easily be grown in short days. For better germination it requires 20-22°C and for tuber formation and growth 18-20 °C temperature is too good. When the temperature exceeds 30 °C it hampers the tuberization because due to high respiration rate, the carbohydrates produced by the photosynthesis are consumed rather than stored in tuber. More humidity, cloudy sky and rains help in spreading of various diseases.
Important Varieties :
A. Early Varieties (Duration: 60-75 days): K. Chandrmukhi, K. Pukhraj, K. Surya, K. Khyati, K. Bahar, K. Ashoka
B. Main Crop(Duration: 90-110 days): K. Bahar, K. Anand, K. Badshah, K. Sinduri, K. Satlaj, K. Lalima, K.Arun, K. Sadabahar, K. Pukhraj
C. Late Varieties(Duration: 110-120 days): K. Satlaj, K. Badshah, K. Anand
D. Varieties Suitable for Processing (For Chips /wafers): K. Surya, K. Chipsona-1, K. Chipsona-2, K. Chipsona-3, K. Frysona, K. Jyoti, K. Lavkar
Some Special Varieties of India
i. Better Storage Quality: K. Deva, k. Kundan,K. Lal,K. Dewa, K. Safed
ii. Early Blight Resistant: K. Lalima, K. Jeewan, K. Kundan, K. Jyoti, K. Badshah, K. Satlaj. K. Pukhraj, K. Sinduri
iii. Late Blight Resistant: K. Jyoti, K. Badshah, K. Sherpa, K. Swarna, K. Megha, K. Jawahar, K. Salaj, K. Pukhraj, Chipsona-1 and 2, K. Giriraj, k. Kumar, K. Neela, K. Chamatkar, K. Neelmani.
iv. Wart Disease Resistant: K. Naveen, K. Jeewan, K. Jyoti, K. Sherpa, K. Khasi Garo
v. Frost Resistant : K. Sheetman, K. Dewa, Chipsona-2, K. Anand, K. Chamatkar
vi. Suitable for Intercropping : K. Jawahar (JH 222)
vii. Suitable for Multiple Cropping : K. Alankar
viii. Photo insensitive Variety : K. Alankar
ix. Nematode Resistant : K. Swarna
x. Mosaic Tolerant : K. Jyoti, K. Sinduri, K. Kuber
Hybrid Varieties of Potato : B-420(2), Ex/A-680-16, HT/92-621, HT/93-707, J/92-13, J/92-164, J/92-167, J/93-4, J/93-77, J/93-81, J/93-86, J/93-87, J/93-139 etc. (All these Hybrids are late blight resistant varieties).
Planting time
In Plains Early crop- 3 week of September to 1 week of October
Main crop- 1 week to 3 week of October
Late crop- 3 week of October to 1 week of November
In Hills
North-west Hills- March to April
North –East hills- a. Summer season: Early to mid March
b. Autumn season: Last week of August to I week of September
Southern Hills (Nilgiri hills): a. Winter crop: I fortnight of August
b. Spring season: I fortnight of February
c. Summer season: I fortnight of April
In the plateau of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra potato is raised in rainy and winter seasons, respectively.
Seed Rate
Seed rate of potato depends upon the variety, size and weight of cut tuber, spacing and purpose of growing the crop. Per hectare seed rate on the basis of seed size and spacing are as under-
| Type of the crop | Crop Seed size (Diameter in cm) | Spacing in cm | Required seed in q/ha |
| Early crop | 2.5-3.0 | 45 x 15 | 10 – 15 |
| Main crop | 3.0-4.0 | 60 x 25 | 25 – 30 |
| Late crop/Seed purpose | 4.0-5.0 | 50 x 20 | 20 – 22 |
Selection of Seed
Seed is one of the most important input in potato cultivation because seed shares alone about 30-40% of whole cost of cultivation. Therefore select healthy healthy and pure seed of high yielding varieties free from pests and diseases. The tubers sowing any surface borne diseases like Wart, Scab, Nematode infection or effect of rot should be sort out.
Seed Treatment
Before planting, the seed potatoes after removing from the cold storage be kept in cool and shady place for one to two weeks to allow the emergence of sprouts. The sprouted tubers should be used as seed.
A. Treatment Against
Diseases Both the whole and cut tubers should be treated with 0.25% Aretan or Tafasan (6% mercury) solution for at least 5 minutes against black surf disease and rotting of seed potatoes. Dipping of cut seed tubers in 0.5% Dithane M – 45 solution for 10 minutes is also effective in avoiding rotting in early planting.
B. Breaking Dormancy
If seed is required for planting before completion of tuber’s dormancy period, there is need to artificial breaking of tuber dormancy for better germination. The dormancy can be broken by treating the tubers with 1% Thiourea (1 kg Thiourea in 100 litres water) + 1ppm Gibberellic Acid (1 mg in 1 litre water) for one hour followed by treatment with3% Ethylin Chlorohydrin solution and keeping the tubers in an airtight place for 72 hours.
Planting Methods
There are three methods of planting potatoes in India
1. Flat Sowing
In flat sowing whole plot is divided into beds of convenient sizes. The shallow furrows are opened and tubers are planted at recommended distance. The tubers are covered with the furrow soils. After completion of germination when plants become 10 – 12 cm in height, earthing is done.
2. Planting Potatoes on Flat Surface Followed by Ridge Making
In this method field is prepared and the shallow furrows are opened on the flat surface. Potatoes are planted in such furrows and immediately after planting tubers, small ridges are made and thick by earthing up of the side soil.
3. Ridge and Furrow Sowing
In this method, the ridges are prepared with the help of plough or ridge maker at recommended distance. The length of ridges depends on the slope of the field. Potato tubers are planted on these prepared ridges.
Nutrients Management
Soil testing is key tool for nutrient management in any crop. Since, potato crop is comparatively heavy feeder, therefore, soil should be well fertile. The soils poor in organic matter must be supplied with 300 – 500q well rotten FYM or compost/ha 15 – 20 days before planting the crop. Green Manuring or organic sources of nutrients also helps in improving the physical properties like structure, aeration, temperature, water holding capacity etc. If the soil sampling is not possible, 100-150 kg Nitrogen, 60-80 kg Phosphorous and 80-100 kg Potassium/ha should be applied in medium type of soils.
Two third quantity of nitrogen and whole quantity of phosphorous and potassium should be applied as basal dressing. Remaining one third of nitrogen should be given at 30-35 days after planting i. e. at the time of first earthing as top dressing. Calcium Ammonium Nitrate, Single Super Phosphate and Muriate of Potash fertilizers are considered as better sources for production of quality tuber crop. For fetching better yield of potato crop micronutrients such as Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu, Mo and Na may also be required in deficient soils.
Intercultural Operations
Narrow and broad leaves both type of weeds are found in potato fields. For their effective control, hand pulling or a manual weeding should be done at 20-25 days after planting when plants attained a height of 8-10 cm along with top dressing of remaining dose of nitrogen followed by earthing. Weeding and earthing help in soil aeration and weed control.
Chemical Control
Pre-emergence application of Alachlor 2.0 kg a.i./ha or Metribuzin 1.0kg
a.i./ha or post emergence of Paraquat and Diquat (Gramaxon) @ 0.36 to 1.0kg
a.i./ha (Applied when 5-10% of germination has taken place) is done with 800-
1000 litres of water. If necessary, second earthing may be done after two weeks of
the first weeding.
Water Management
Potato is very sensitive to soil moisture. In both excess and scarcity conditions, the quality and yield is badly affected. Before coming to planting operation, it should be assure that there should be optimum soil moisture for better sprouting and germination of tubers. Pre-sowing irrigation is must if there is insufficient moisture in the field. In potato, furrow irrigation is most commonly used. The light irrigation is done to maintain optimum soil moisture in the potato field. A maximum height of two third of ridges is flooded through irrigation water. Further irrigations are done as and when is required. In general, irrigation is done at an interval of 6-10 days in sandy loam soils and 10-12 days in heavy soils. In seed production, the last irrigation is done before 15 days earlier to dehaulming. Excess water should immediately be drain out from the field otherwise, it causes various diseases and rotting of tubers.
