GROWTH, YIELD AND QUALITY OF POTATO AS AFFECTED BY ARSENIC LEVELS

Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted at the Agronomy research field, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka from November 2011 to February 2012, to find out the effect of 5 different arsenic levels viz., As0 (Control), As1 (10 mg As kg-1 soil), As2 (20 mg As kg-1 soil), As3 (30 mg As kg-1 soil), As4 (40 mg As kg-1 soil) on growth, yield and quality of four potato varieties viz., V1 (Cardinal), V2 (Diamant), V3 (Asterix), V4 (Granola). The application of As had significant effect on growth, yield and quality contributing parameters of potato irrespective of variety. Among the 5 As levels, 10 mg As kg-1 soil exhibited the positive performance for all growth and yield contributing characters except tuber number and quality contributing characters. Growth and yield contributing parameters increased up to application of 10 mg As kg-1 soil and thereafter decreased with increasing As levels. Marketable yield (>20 g) decreased with increasing As levels while As accumulation increased with increasing As levels irrespective of 4 potato varieties. Among 4 varieties, Diamant showed the best As tolerance and maximum growth whereas least in Granola. Out of 20 treatment combinations, Diamant cultivated with 10 mg As kg-1 soil performed the best results in terms of growth and yield. The maximum tuber yield plant-1 (438.00 g) was obtained by Diamant with the application of 10 mg As kg-1 soil and the maximum marketable yield (93.14 %) was also produced by Diamant with control and the lowest from Granola (88.86 %) variety with 40 mg As kg-1 soil. The maximum As accumulation (0.22 mg kg-1) was found in Granola at 40 mg As kg-1 soil whereas the minimum (0.05 mg kg-1) was in Diamant with 10 mg As kg-1 soil except control, which is less than critical level (0.15 mg kg-1) for human body. On the basis of yield and As tolerance the variety Diamant was superior than those of other varieties.