EFFECT OF TUBER SIZE AND PLANT GROWTH REGULATORS ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF POTATO (Solanum tuberosum L.)

Abstract

An investigation was conducted at the Horticulture Farm of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka during the period from November 2013 to February 2014 to study the effect of tuber size and plant growth regulators on growth and yield of potato. The experiment consisted of 3 sizes of seed tuber (S = 15 ± 5g, S 2 = 25 ± 5g and S 3 = 35 ± 5g tuber) and 3 levels of PGR (G = Control, G 1 = 100 ppm GA 3 and G = 50 ppm BAP) thus there were 9 treatment combinations. The two factor experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. Significant effect was found for different parameters at different growth stages due to the influence of tuber size and growth regulators. Results revealed that the tallest plant (52.2 and 53.5 cm at 60 and 75 DAS respectively) was observed from S 2 2 G 1 0 but the highest number of stem hill

was observed from S 3 G 2 . Similarly, the highest leaf area (162.9 cm at 60 DAS and 171.4 cm 2 75 DAS), stem diameter (0.95 cm at 60 DAS and 1.04 cm at 75 DAS), number of tuber plant -1 (9.53), tuber weight plant -1 (544.1 g), tuber weight plot -1 (6.69 kg) and tuber yield ha -1 (30.97 t) were recorded from S . Likewise, the highest net assimilation rate (8.28 at 60 DAS and 10.33 at 75 DAS), highest intercellular CO concentration (421.7 at 60 DAS and 304.7 at 75 DAS), highest photosynthetic active radiation (838.3 at 60 DAS and 1405 at 75 DAS) and highest chlorophyll content (50. 34 at 60 DAS and 50.13 at 75 DAS) were measured from S 3 G 2 2 . So, the tuber size (35 ± 5g) with 50 ppm BAP is best for potato production among the treatments.