POTATO (SOLANUM TUBEROSUM L.) TUBER YIELD AS AFFECTED BY PLANTING TIMES AND FERTILIZER DOSES UNDER SANDY LOAM SOILS

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1 Indian J. Agric. Res.., 47 (6) : , 2013 AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE / indianjournals.com POTATO (SOLANUM TUBEROSUM L.) TUBER YIELD AS AFFECTED BY PLANTING TIMES AND FERTILIZER DOSES UNDER SANDY LOAM SOILS A.S. Sandhu 1 *, S.P. Sharma 2, R.D. Bhutani and S.C. Khurana Department of Vegetable Science, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar , India Received: Accepted: ABSTRACT The experiment was conducted with sixteen treatment combination using four planting dates (22nd October, 1st, 11th and 21st November) and four fertilizer doses (75; RFD 1, 100; RFD 2, 125; RFD 3 and 150%; RFD 4 ) of recommended dose (150:50:100 Kg ha -1 of NPK). The highest percentage of A-grade tubers and marketable yield was recorded with 1 st November (D 2 ) planting followed by 22 nd October planting (D 1 ), while the lowest values were recorded with 21 st November (D 4 ) planting. Percentage of D-grade tubers was highest in 21 st November planting, indicating the decrease in tuber size (non-marketable) with delayed planting. Percentage of A and B grades, marketable and total tuber increased with increase in fertilizer dose. However, the percentage of C and D grade tubers decreased with fertilizer dose. Therefore, 1st November planting coupled with higher fertilizer dose may result in improved marketable yield under sandy loam soils. Key words: Marketable yield, NPK, Planting date, Total yield. INTRODUCTION Potato is the most important food crop and in the 1st decade of 21 st century per capita annual global consumption was 33 kg (FAO, 2008). The growth of potato consumption has been further promoted by the emergence of snack and fast food trends (Verma, 1991). Food production wise it ranks 4 th in the world and 3 rd in India. Area under potato in India is 1.83 million hectares with production of 42.3 million tons (FAO, 2013). Indo-Gangetic plains contribute 90 per cent of total potato production in India, where the crop is harvested from January to March before the onset of long hot summers. Its production depends upon the contribution of many factors, among them; planting time is the major one. In addition to it, judicious use of balanced dose of fertilizers like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium for different planting times also plays an important role in the production of potato (Rai et al., 2002). Planting time is an important factor, which affects crop emergence, crop growth, crop duration and tuber yield. The differences in crop growth and yield due to planting dates can be attributed largely to the differences in environmental parameters such as day and night temperature, photoperiod and photo-synthetically active radiations (Jones and Allen, 1983). Further, nutrient supply also plays a major role in growth and development of plants as well as yield because nitrogen is an essential constituent of protein and chlorophyll. Among fertilizers, nitrogen is second most important nutrient after potassium. Nitrogen is essential for maintaining higher haulm growth, increased bulking rate, quality of tuber and more dry matter production (Roy and Jaiswal, 1998). On the other hand, potassium is responsible for translocation of carbohydrates and increased resistance to withstand drought and frost stresses. The present investigation was conducted to find out the optimum planting time and an appropriate fertilizer dose for the different planting times and/or a suitable combination of planting time and fertilizer dose for enhanced quality production of potato tuber under sandy loam soil of Hisar. * Corresponding author s assandhu70@gmail.com 1 Present address: FASS, PAU Regional Station, Bathinda Department of Vegetable Science, PAU, Ludhiana

2 MATERIALS AND METHODS The experiment was conducted at the Vegetable Research Farm and laboratory of the Department of Vegetable Crops, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar during cropping seasons; season 1 (S1; ) and season 2 (S2; ). The experiment comprised of sixteen treatments; four dates of planting [(22 nd Oct.(D 1 ), 1st Nov.(D 2 ),11 th Nov. (D 3 ) and 21 st Nov. (D 4 )] and four levels of recommended fertilizer dose (RFD; 150:50:100 Kg ha -1 of NPK); 75% RFD (RFD 0 ), 100% RFD (RFD 1 ),125% RFD (RFD 2 ) and150% RFD (RFD 3 ) with Kufri badshah cultivar. Planting of potato tubers was done at an interval of ten days during both the years. Soil physical and chemical properties of the experiemtnal site are given in Table 1. Seventy five per cent of nitrogen, whole of P 2 O 5 and K 2 O were applied as band placement on both sides of the tubers before furrows making and remaining twenty five per cent of nitrogen was applied at the time of earthing up after 30 days of planting. Planting was done at 60 cm (between) x 20 cm (within) spacing in a randomized block design with three replications. All the recommended cultural practices were adopted during the course of experimentation.the haulm cutting was done after 100 days of planting. The treatments were harvested after ten days of haulm cutting to allow tuber curing Vol. 47, No. 6, in the field. The storage behavior of all the treatments was studied between the months March to May at room temperature during both the years of study. Tubers were kept for 3 days in a shady and airy place for curing before initiating storage studies. Five kilograms of B grade counted tubers of uniform size were kept in small hessian bags in three replications. Room temperature and relative humidity of both the years of experiment were recorded and given in Figure 1. The details of observations recorded during storage are mentioned as under: At harvest total number tubers were recorded and graded into four different sizes i.e. A grade (> 125 g), B grade (> g), C grade (> g) and D grade (< 25 g).marketable tuber yield was obtained by deducting the D grade tuber yield from total tuber yield.the yield obtained from each treatment (sum of yield of A, B, C and D grade tubers) was converted into quintals per hectare. Data recorded on different grades of tubers, marketable yield and total yieldwas subjected analysis of variance (ANOVA, p< 0.05) suggested by Panse and Sukhatme (1985) and means comparisons were done at P < Percentages were computed using the least square means from respective ANOVA and tables and figures were drawn using MS excel 2010 program. FIG. 1: Climatic data of HAU, Hisar weather station, Maximum (hollow diamond-solid line) and Minimal (solid diamonddotted line) air temperature,relative humidity (solid circle-upper dotted line) and Rainfall (bars) are shown for both the seasons figure 1a and 1b respectively.

3 498 INDIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH TABLE 1: Soil physical and chemical properties of experimental site. Component Units Season Soil texture Sandy loam Sandy loam S1 S1 ph EC ds m Organic carbon % Available N kg ha Available P kg ha Available K kg ha RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Yield and percentage of A- grade tubers: Percentage of A-grade tubers on weight basis was highest with D 2 planting and it was significantly superior over the remaining planting dates. Fertilizer dose also had significant effect on the yield of A- grade tubers.increase in fertilizer dose from RFD 0 to RFD 3 improved the yield of A-grade tubers during both the seasons. Proportion of A-grade tubers on weight basis was highest (19.10% and %) with RFD 4 followed by RFD 2 (18.33% and 16.80%) during both the seasons of investigation. Interaction between planting dates and fertilizer doses was significant in respect of yield of A-grade tubers (Figure 2). Highest yield of A-grade tubers (80.56 q ha -1 and q ha -1 ) was obtained when crop was planted on D 2 and supplied with RFD 3 during both the years. Whilst, lowest yield (25.25 q ha - 1 and q ha -1 ) during both years was obtained when crop was planted on D 4 supplied with 75 per cent of recommended fertilizer dose (Table 2). FIG. 2: Treatment interaction effect on A grade tuber yield. Yield and percentage of B-grade tubers: Highest percentage of B-grade tubers was obtained with 22 nd October planting and was significantly different from the remaining three planting dates (S1 and S2). Different fertilizer doses applied influenced the yield of B-grade tubers significantly during both the seasons. Highest dose of fertilizer (RFD 3 ) recorded highest percentage of B-grade tubers (52.27% and 53.42%), however, it was statistically at par with RFD 3 (52.79% and 53.36%) during both the years. Both these treatments were significantly superior to the remaining two fertilizer treatments. Lowest percentage of B-grade tubers was obtained when crop was supplied with RFD 0 during both the seasons and also differed significantly from the remaining three fertilizer treatments (Table 2). Yield and percentage of C-grade tuber: Percentage of C-grade (32.56% and 35.03%) tubers was highest with D 4 planting and was statistically superior over all other planting dates during both the seasons. Per cent yield of C-grade tubers decreased with increase in fertilizer dose during both the seasons and lowest per cent yield was obtained with the highest dose of fertilizer i.e. RFD 3 (25.7% and 26.2%) and it was at par with RFD 2. Both these fertilizer doses applied were significantly different from the remaining two fertilizer doses applied. Proportion of C-grade tubers (weight basis) was highest in RFD 0 (27.8% and 29.1%) and was significantly different from the remaining three fertilizer doses applied (Table 2).

4 Vol. 47, No. 6, TABLE 2: Effect of planting dates and fertilizer doses on yield percentage (weight basis) of different tuber grades. Treatment A grade tubers (%) B grade tubers (%) C grade tubers (%) D grade tubers (%) S1 S2 Mean S1 S2 Means S1 S2 Mean S1 S2 Mean Planting date D D D D CD at 5% Fertilizer dose N:P:K (kg/ha) RFD RFD RFD RFD CD at 5% ns ns ns ns - Yield and percentage of D -grade tuber: Percentage of D-grade tuber yield was also highest with D 4 planting and it statistically differed from other three planting dates. Proportion of D-grade tubers (weight basis) was not influenced by the fertilizer doses applied (Table 2).Percentage of grade Atubers was found highest from D 2 planting and lowest from D 4 planting. It might be because of the reason that more number of tubers are also related to the availability of more photosynthates which were expected to be higher in D 2 planting. Further, tuber number per unit area increased with increase in fertilizer dose linearly from RFD 0 to RFD 3. Percent yield of D-grade tubers was highest in D 4 planting during both the seasons. It was because of the effect of planting date on yield was higher as compared to its effect on tuber number and therefore, assimilates available for the growth of individual tuber was highest in D 2 planted crop and lowest in D 4 planted crop, which resulted in highest percentage of A and B grade tubers from D 2 planting and lowest per cent yield of these two grades from D 4 planting. Marketable tuber yield: The data presented in Table 3. revealed that during both the years, highest marketable tuber yield (q ha -1 )was obtained from the planting done on D 2 ( q/ha) followed by planting dose on D 1 ( q ha -1 and q ha - 1 ), D 3 ( q ha -1 and q ha -1 ) and D 4 ( q ha -1 and q ha -1 ) and the results of all the four planting dates differed significantly among themselves. Proportion of marketable tubers (weight basis) was highest with D 2 planted crop (97.49%) followed by D 1 planting (97.28%) season 1, however during season 2, it was highest in D 1 planting (97.6%) followed by D 2 (97.5%) planting. Since light interception is directly correlated with leaf area index (data not presented)and it was highest in D 2 planted crop during both the years. Total light TABLE 3: Effect of planting dates and fertilizer doses on total and marketable yield. Treatment Total yield (q ha -1 ) Marketable yield (q ha -1 ) Per cent marketable S1 S2 Mean S1 S2 Means S1 S2 Mean Planting date D D D D CD at 5% Fertilizer dose N:P:K (kg ha -1 ) RFD RFD RFD RFD CD at 5% ns ns -

5 500 INDIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH interception over the season has been related to total tuber yield (Ezekiel and Bhargava, 1992; Singh, 1995; Roy and Jaiswal, 1998). Therefore, in the present investigation, D 2 planted crop resulted in highest tuber yield during both the years.leaf area index was lowest in D 4 planted crop; therefore, it resulted in lowest tuber yield during both the years of investigation. These results were in close agreement with those of Pandey and Ghai (1975); Murti (1977); Sharma and Verma (1987); Gupta et al. (1991); Ezekiel and Bhargava (1992, 1997); Singh (1995) and Roy and Jaiswal (1998). Different fertilizer doses applied revealed significant effects on marketable tuber yield. During both the seasons, maximum yield of marketable tubers was recorded from RFD 3 applied (292.5q ha -1 and 294.8q ha -1 ) followed by RFD 2, RFD 1 and RFD 0 in order. Four treatments of fertilizer doses differed significantly from one another except RFD 3 and RFD 3. Leaf area index increased with increase in fertilizer dose leading to increased light interception with increase in fertilizer dose which ultimately resulted in increased total tuber yield (Vermaet al., 1997 and Kumar et al., 2002). These results are also in accordance with the findings of Aggarwal et al. (1975), Sharma and Sharma (1989), Singh and Mangal (1996), Goswami (2002) and Rai et al. (2002). It might also be mentioned that increase in fertilizer dose must have improved photosynthetic efficiency of the plant. Interaction between planting dates and fertilizer doses on marketable tuber yield was significant in S1 (Figure 3.). Potato crop planted on D 2 and supplied with highest dose of fertilizer gave maximum marketable tuber yield (338.5q ha -1 ) followed by same date of planting with RFD 2 (331.4q ha -1 ). Lowest yield of marketable tuber was recorded from crop planted on D 4 and supplied with RFD 1. Total tuber yield: During both the years of experimentation, potato crop planted on 1 st November, recorded highest yield potential (310.2, 312.2q ha -1 during S1 and S2, respectively) followed by the planting done on D 1, D 3 and D 4 in order (Table 3). All the four planting dates differed significantly from one another. Different fertilizer doses applied showed significant effects on total tuber yield during both the seasons of investigation. Increasing trend was noticed in respect of total tuber yield with increasing fertilizer doses applied. Highest total tuber yield (301 1q ha -1 and 308.0q ha -1 ) was recorded with RFD 3 followed by RFD 3, RFD 1 and RFD 0 in order during both the seasons and all the four treatments of fertilizer doses differed significantly among themselves. FIG. 3: Treatment interaction effect on marketable and total tuber yield.

6 The lower potato yield obtained from D 1 in comparison to 2 nd planting (1 st November) may be because of prevalence/occurrence of more population of whitefly which resulted in higher incidence of apical leaf curl disease. Delay in planting beyond D 3 resulted in marked disease in yield. The yield loss increased with delay in planting and D 4 planting gave the lowest yield. Crops under first two dates of planting received much more conducive photo period for longer time and favorable range of maximum and minimum temperature for growth and development of plants. Plants showed more assimilation of photo-synthates under congenial range of temperature whi ch was translocated to stolens for formati on and development of tubers for a larger period of time resulting in higher yield of tubers under optimum date of planting i.e. D 2 (Sharma and Verma, 1987).On the other hand, crops planted on later two dates (particularly D 4 planting) were subjected to much lower temperature range in early period and also very short photoperiod which adversely affected growth of plant and tuberization phase. It resulted in less manufacture of photosynthates and its translocation to tubers which were mainly responsible for lower yield of tubers. Potato crop also got affected by temperature rise (Figure 1.) from the beginning of February and extending to entire maturity period. The adverse effect, as expected, was more Vol. 47, No. 6, pronounced ind 4 planting. With rise of temperature, the respiration rate of the above ground parts also increased with a simultaneous decrease in the flow of substrates to the growing tubers which resulted in less tuber yield from late planting (Pandey and Ghai, 1975; Murti, 1977). These results are also in close agreement with those of Sharma and Verma (1987); Gupta et al. (1991); Singh (1995) and Ezekiel and Bhargava (1997; 1992). Interaction effects between fertilizer doses and planting dates on total tuber yield were found significant during S1 (Figure 4.). D 2 planting with application of highest dose of fertilizers, gave highest total tuber yield (346.8 q ha -1 ) and was significantly superior over the remaining treatment combinations. On the other hand, potato crop planted on D 4 and supplied with RFD 0 resulted in lowest tuber yield (189.0 q ha -1 ). CONCLUSION From the results and discussion in this study, it can be concluded that D 2 planting is better than the early as well as late planting for producing maximum marketable tuber yield. More fertilizer may be required due to the shortening of the growing season. The response may be culti var and environment dependent, therefore the experiment should be repeated with other varieties and locations to draw conclusive inferences. REFERENCES Aggarwal, M C, Malik, B S and Singh, K (1975) Influence of sprinkler and surface methods of irrigation and nitrogen levels on the yield of potatoes. J. Res. HAU, Hisar 5: Chaurasia, S N S and Singh, KP (1993) Effect of nitrogen levels and haulms cuttings on dry matter partitioning in different parts of potato plant cv. KufriLalima. HaryanaJ. Hort. Sci.22: Ezekiel, Rand Bhargava, SC (1992) Physiological analysis of growth of potato in relation to planting date.indian J. Plant Physiol.85: Ezekiel, Rand Bhargava, SC (1997)The influence of high temperature on growth and yield of early potatoes under short day conditions. Indian J. Plant Physiol. 2: FAO(2008) International Year of the Potato The potato. United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization. ftp:/ /ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/011/i0500e/i0500e02.pdf. FAO(2013) FAO STAT AgricultureDatabase. Goswami, SB (2002) Response of potato to NPK fertilization in Terai soils of West Bengal. J. Indian Potato Assoc. 29: Gupta, C R, Singh, P N and Singh, V K (1991) Effect of planting date on yield and yield components of potato. Indian J. Agron.36: Jones, J L and Allen, EJ(1983) Effects of date of planting on plant emergence, leaf growth and yield in contrasting potato varieties. J. Agric. Sci. Camb. 101: Kabir, M H, Rashid, M H, Rashid, MM and Sikka, LC (1993) Potato production from true seeds: 2. Effect of fertilizer levels. Haryana J. Hort. Sci. 22:

7 502 INDIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH Kumar, V, Singh, N, Malik, YS, Bhatia, AK and Nehra, BK (2002) Effect of nitrogen and crop duration on bulking behaviour of potato cv. Kufri Sutlej. Haryana J. Hort. Sci.31(3-4): Murti, GSR (1977) Environmental physiology of potato. Recent Technology in potato improvement and production, CPRI, Shimla Publication, pp Om, Hand Hooda, RS (1987) Studies on the effect of methods of planting and fertility levels on the dry matter production and nutrient uptake in potato variety KufriChandramukhi. Haryana J. Hort. Sci.16: Pandey, J and Ghai, VP (1975) Effect of date of planting, spacing, levels of nitrogen and size of tubers on the yield of seed potato. Indian J. Agron.20: Pandey, S K andsarkar, D (2005) Potato in India: Emerging trends and challenges in the new millennium. Potato J. 32: Panse, V G and Sukhatme, PV (1985) Statistical Methods for Agricultural Workers, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. Rai, G K,Verma, MM and Singh, J (2002) Nitrogen and potassium interaction effect on yield attributes of potato. J. Indian Potato Assoc. 29: Roy, S K and Jaiswal, VP (1998) Response of potato to planting dates and nitrogen. Indian J. Agron. 43: Sharma, IPand Verma, UK (1987) Effect of planting and harvesting dates on yield and yield attributes of potatoes. J. Indian Potato Assoc.14: Sharma, S P and Sharma, HL (1989) Response of potato to nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilization in dry temperate high hills of Himachal Pradesh.Indian J. Agril. Sci.59: Singh, M V (1995) Nitrogen needs of potato when planted on different dates. J. Indian Potato Assoc. 22: Singh, T P and Mangal, JL(1996) Growth yield and quality studies of three potato varieties under different water quality and fertility levels. Haryana J. Hort. Sci. 25: Verma S C (1991) Potato Processing in Inda, Technical Bulletin NO. 34, Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India. Verma, A K, Singh, V P and Verma, V S(1997) Effect of varieties and levels of NPK on yield of potato seed tubers under calcareous belt of North Bihar. J. Indian Potato Assoc. 24: