Vol. 12, Issue 11 (2023)

Author(s):
Roop Singh Dangi, SP Singh, Ekta Joshi, Deep Singh Sasode, Murlidhar J Sadawarti, Reema Lautre and Neelam Singh

Abstract:
A study was conducted at the Research Farm of ICAR-CPRI-RS, Maharajpura, Gwalior (M.P.) during kharif, rabi and summer season of 2018 and 2019 to investigate the effect of plastic mulching and drip irrigation on growth and yield attributing characteristics of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) varieties under potato-based cropping system. The study involved eight treatment replicated four times in split plot design. The treatments comprised of four mulching viz. DM₁: Drip irrigation with black-black plastic mulch, DM₂: Drip irrigation with silver-black plastic mulch; DM_3: Drip irrigation without mulch; FI₄: Farmer’s practice (Check) and two varieties viz. V₁ Kufri Badshah and V₂: Kufri chipsona-3. The performance of potato in terms of almost all growth parameters and yield attributes was significantly better under drip irrigation with silver-black plastic mulching. The highest grade wise total tuber yield (42.9 t ha^-1) was recorded under silver-black plastic mulch being at par with black-black plastic mulch application. Among the varieties, Kufri Chipsona-3 out-performed Kufri Badshah recording significantly highest grade wise total tuber yield (38.5 t ha^-1) of potato. The interaction of black-black plastic mulch x Kufri Chipsona-3 and silver-black plastic x Kufri Chipsona-3 being at par with each other found significant with respect to yield parameters. The two year study clearly showed that the system productivity of potato-based cropping system with higher gross and net returns was significantly highest under silver black plastic mulch with drip irrigation, however, it was comparable to black-black plastic mulching.