EFFECT OF SHADE AND INTRA-ROW PLANT SPACING ON THE YIELD AND YIELD CONTRIBUTING CHARACTERS OF POTATO (Solanum tuberosum L.) FOR AGROFORESTRY SYSTEM

Abstract

An experiment was carried out at the Agroforestry Research Farm, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur, during December, 2010 to March, 2011 to study the effect of shade and intra-row plant spacing on the yield and yield contributing characters of potato for agroforestry system. Potato was planted in the floor of mango tree species and also a control (Open field) with three plant spacing’s viz. 60 x 20, 60 x 25 and 60 x 30 cm’. The experiment was laid out in the two factorsfactorial experiment in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 4 (four) replications. The result of the experiment revealed that there was a significant effect of intra-row plant spacing and different production system on the growth, yield contributing characters and yield of potato. Among the three intra-row plant spacing, the widest plant spacing (60 x30 cm’) gave the maximum weight of tuber hill! (236.20 g) whereas the closest plant spacing (60 x 20 cm’) gave the minimum weight of potato hill” ' (228.70 g), but the closest plant spacing (60 x 20 cm?) gave the maximum yield (19.33 t/ha) whereas the widest plant spacing (60 x 30 cm’) gave the minimum yield (16.30 t/ha). The result also exposed that, potato production under in sole cropping (To) was higher (20.25 t/ha) compared to mango based agroforestry system (T;), but the maximum percent (%) dry weight (14.50 g) of potato was recorded in mango based agroforestry system (T;) compared to sole cropping (To). The combined effect of different production system and plant spacing revealed that the closest spacing (60 x 20 cm’) applied at open condition (ToS9) gave the highest yield of potato (20.22 t/ha) than any other combination. The treatment combination, the closest spacing (60 x 20 cm’) applied at mango based agroforestry system (T,So) gave the second highest yield of potato (18.43 t/ha). From the economic analysis, it was observed that the higher BCR (2.14) was recorded in mango based agroforestry system. On the other hand, the lower BCR (1.78) was received from the sole cropping of potato. Finally it may be concluded that out of the three plant spacing, the closest spacing (60 x 20 cm’) would be the best treatment to be grown under mango based agroforestry system considering the additional returns as per investment in terms of money and time.