1. Cultural Practices under INM in Potato Next

2. Cultural Practices under INM in Potato Introduction Potato is an important crop in India with a harvest of 1.3 m ha. In multiple and intercropping systems its popularity can be attributed due to a short duration and rapid bulking crop. It also produces maximum yield per unit area and time than cereals and pulses. It can be planted/harvested early/late depending on the other crops to be grown in the sequence. Keeping in view its importance, many potato based cropping systems have been developed and evaluated at a number of research centres spread over diverse agro-ecological situations. Among the major inputs used in crop production are seed, manures and fertilizers, water, plant protection chemicals viz. herbicides, insecticides and fungicides and farm machineries. Next End Previous

3. Cultural Practices under INM in Potato Seed & Varieties Good quality seed is the most important input for the cultivation of any crop. In potato it is more important as it accounts for about 40% of the cost of cultivation. Crop varieties used in sequential cropping systems should be uniform and have flexibility in planting and harvesting time. Since earliness is one of the important features of the multiple cropping patterns, it is desirable to plant well sprouted seed tubers at optimum soil moisture for an early emergence. Next End Previous

4. Cultural Practices under INM in Potato Integrated Nutrient Management Potato responds well to fertilizers compared with cereals and legumes and hence requires special attention in the cropping system. Among the nutrients, nitrogen is deficient in most of the Indian soils and thus its application is needed to potato which is a short duration crop. In potato the recovery of N is around 40 per cent and hence considerable amount of N remains unused by the crop and may have some residual effect on the succeeding crops. Next End Previous

5. Cultural Practices under INM in Potato Integrated Nutrient Management Potato responds well to fertilizers compared with cereals and legumes and hence requires special attention in the cropping system. Among the nutrients, nitrogen is deficient in most of the Indian soils and thus its application is needed to potato which is a short duration crop. In potato the recovery of N is around 40 per cent and hence considerable amount of N remains unused by the crop and may have some residual effect on the succeeding crops. Next End Previous Contd….

6. Cultural Practices under INM in Potato Integrated Nutrient Management The economic potato response for ware crop in alluvial soils of Indo- Gangetic plains in the country has been noticed up to 180 kg N /ha. Its application in two split dose i.e. half at planting time and rest at time of earthing up produces higher yields. In potato the recovery of P is around 10% and that of K is around 40- 50%. The optimum dose for P varies from 60 to 100 kg P2O5/ha, whereas, optimum doses for K is 100-150, kg K2O/ha for plains and its application at planting is considered more useful. Next End Previous Contd….

7. Cultural Practices under INM in Potato Water Management The water use efficiency in potato under conventional furrow method is quite low i.e. 50%. Knowledge of critical stages of water stress is essential for judicious use of irrigation water. Experiments have established that stolonization and early tuberization stages are the most critical for water supply. An inadequate supply of water during these stages affects the yield more than the water at other stages. Therefore, plants should be irrigated at 0.3 bar tension or at 15-20 mm CPE during critical stages of growth. Next End Previous

8. Cultural Practices under INM in Potato Weed Management In potato, 10 per cent yield losses have been attributed to the harmful effect of weeds. The critical period for crop-weed competition is 4-6 weeks after planting in the plains and 6-8 weeks in the hills. Weeding normally commence at 20-25 days after planting when the plants attain height of about 10-15 cm. Early control of weeds is also obligatory from the plant protection point of view as they serve as host for viruses and vectors. After weeding and hoeing, earthing up is to be done immediately to conserve soil moisture and proper ridge formation. Use of herbicides for weed control is of great significance in potato. It checks early weed growth, reduces mechanical damage to the plants, is quick and less laborious. It also minimises the spread of mechanically transmitted viruses like virus X and S by omitting manual weed control during crop growth period. In the north-western plains herbicides like metribuzin at 0.7 kg/ha and oxyfluorfen at 0.2 kg/ha in potato has proved advantageous by providing long weed free period not only in potato but also in wheat through residual effect leading to increased yield and nutrients uptake. Next End Previous

9. Cultural Practices under INM in Potato Crop rotation Maize and rice as preceding crop of potato have been found to be suited for north western and north central Indo-Gangetic plains. As regards to other crops, cowpea, sorghum and pearlmillet among fodder, okra and roundmelon among vegetables, and green manure have been found successful for growing before the potato crop. Among the succeeding crops, wheat exhibits high spread with better yield in northern India. In addition, inclusion of maize, pulses like greengram, blackgram, vegetables like tomato, onion, carrot and cucurbits etc., maize and cowpea for fodder, sunflower as oil seed and mentha as succeeding crops can be included successfully in potato based multiple crop sequences. Next End Previous

10. To achieve higher cropping intensities and yields per unit area, timely performance of farm operations from land preparation to harvesting are necessary. Mechanisation of the operations like land preparation, planting and harvesting will save the time. For efficient and economic cultivation and handling of potato crop various farm implements/machines like animal and tractor drawn ridger, fertilizer drill-cum-marker, automatic two/four row potato planter, bullock and tractor drawn potato digger etc. are available. Mechanisation Cultural Practices under INM in Potato Next Previous End

11. The skin of the tubers is hardened by withholding the irrigation at least 10 days before harvesting. Haulms could also be cut to enforce maturity particularly in case of seed crop. Utmost care is taken to see that the tuber skin is hard enough to withstand impact of harvesting tools and machinery. Therefore, crop is to be harvested at 15-20 days of haulm cutting and at proper soil moisture. The harvesting in plains must be completed before March to avoid charcoal rot and damage by high temperature as the soil temperature touches 30oC. In the hills and regions where crop is taken under long day conditions and is rainfed, the harvesting is completed after the offset of rains. Harvesting Cultural Practices under INM in Potato Next Previous End

12. In potato, yield is a function of number of stems, number of effective stolons, number and weight of tubers/plant and varies with variety and agro- environmental conditions under which crop is grown. These parameters vary with cultivars. The yield of seed crop ranges from 20 to 25 tonnes/ha depending upon the duration of crop and time of haulms cutting. For ware crop, an average yield of 25-35 tonnes/ha is reasonable and easily obtained with the use of healthy seed of improved variety at good management practices Cultural Practices under INM in Potato Yield PreviousEnd