SCREENING OF POTATO VARIETIES UNDER DIFFERENT SHADE LEVELS

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out at the Agroforestry and Environment research farm, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University (HSTU), Dinajpur, during November 2013 to February 2014 to screening the performance of 4 (four) potato varieties under different shade levels. The experiment included four modern potato varieties viz; V\= Cardinal, V2 = Granulla, V3 = Xtirix and V4 = Raza and different shade levels viz. S; = 100% light = 800 Lux, S2 = 75% light = 600 Lux and S3 = 50% light = 400 Lux. The experiment was laid out in RCBD with 3 (three) replications. Potato tubers were planted on 15" November 2013 and harvested on 22™4 February 2014. The result revealed that the potato varieties played an important role in growth as well as yield performance. At 30 DAP the tallest plant (46.33 cm) was recorded from the variety Raza (V4) whereas the shortest plant (38.32 cm) was observed from Granulla (V2).The maximum number of tuber hill” (7.75) was recorded in Raza (V4) and the minimum was found (6.13) in Xtirix (V3). The potato tuber yield was measured in tha’'. Significantly the highest tuber yield (27.25 tha’') was recorded in Raza (V4) and the lowest tuber yield (23.53 tha’) was recorded in Granulla (V2). On the other hand, different shade levels also affected significantly the growth and yield of potato regarding different growth and yield contributing characters. At 30 DAP the tallest plant (47.55 cm) was recorded in S3 treatment followed by in S2 i.e.75% light and the shortest plant was observed (40.67 cm) in S; treatment i.e: 100% light condition. The maximum number of tuber hill” (7.54) was recorded in (S;) treatment and the minimum number of tuber hill"' (5.85) was found in (S3). The maximum weight of tuber per hill (355.0 g) was observed in (S;) and the minimum (325.12g) was recorded in (S3) treatment. The yield was found highest 30.87 t/ha in (Sj) and the lowest yield 23.11 t/ha was found in (S3). Significantly the highest tuber yield (45.18 t/ha) was recorded in (S;V4) treatment combination whereas the lowest tuber yield (31.66 t/ha) was recorded in (S3V2). It may be concluded that potato variety Raza has been grown successfully as different light condition. In artificial shade created with nylon net light conditions, potato variety Cardinal (at 75% light) and Xxttrix (at 50% light) also gave the moderate yield.