Studies on Planting Configurations Tuber Size and Bio inoculants for Quality Seed Production in Potato Solanum tuberosum L

Abstract

newline The present investigation entitled Studies on Planting Configurations, Tuber Size and Bio-inoculants for Quality Seed Production in Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) was conducted during the year 2021-22 and 2022-23 at Vegetable experimental farm 1and II, with the objectives (i) To study the effect of planting configurations, tuber size and bio-inoculants on the growth, yield and quality of seed potato (ii) To study the impact of planting configurations, tuber size and bio-inoculants on the incidence of aphids, viruses, early and late blight in seed potato(iii) To study relative economics of different treatments. The experiment was carried out in Randomized Block Design (Factorial). It comprised of three factors (a)Planting configurations: S1- 60 cm × 20 cm,S2- 60 cm × 30 cm and S3- 60 cm × 40 cm (b) Tuber size: (T1) 30g and#8804; 50g ,(T2) 50g and#8804; 70g . (T3) 70g and#8804; 90g (c) Bio-inoculant B0 - Control (No bio-inoculant application), B1- Pseudomonas fluorescens B2- Trichoderma viride and B3- Beauveria bassiana. The study revealed that days to 50% emergence and 50% physiological maturity i.e., 14.58 and 95.92 days was recorded in large sized tubers (T3) which were significantly earlier than other treatments. Among the growth parameters, Maximum LAI (4.02) was recorded in S1T3B1 and Maximum number of stem/ plant (5.54) was recorded in S3T3B2 whereas, Maximum plant height (90.68 cm) was recorded in S1T3B2. Considering the yield attributes, Maximum yield per plant (884.08g) was recorded in S3T3B2, while, The maximum seed yield per hectare (313.52 q) was recorded in S1T3B2. Minimum unmarketable tuber yield per hectare (30.19q) was recorded in S3T3B2. Among the quality parameters recorded, Maximum dry matter content i.e 24.31% was recorded in S3T3B2 and minimum PLW (13.51%) was found in S3T1B2. The interaction of planting configurations, tuber size and bio-inoculants were found to control the biotic stress traits in potato seed production programme. Aphids were effectively controlled by Beauveria bassiana and Trichod