Effect of organic liquid manures on growth, yield and quality attributes of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.)
Santu Adhikari
The present investigation was carried out at the faculty centre of Integrated Rural & Tribal Development and Management under the School of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda University, Morabadi, Ranchi-834008, Jharkhand, India at 23.230 N latitude and 85.230E longitude with the altitude of 2,140 feet above sea level during Rabi season of 2014-15 to study the effects of different organic liquid formulations over the growth, yield and quality attributes of potato cultivars Kufri Pukhraj and Kufri Kanchan. The experiment was framed out by adopting CRBD model with eight treatments and three replications for the each. The treatment combinations were: T1-Cow urine (5%); T2– Cow urine (10%); T3-Cow urine (15%); T4–Shasyagavya (5%); T5–Shasyagavya (10%); T6–Shasyagavya (15%); T7–Shasyagavya (20%); and T8-Control (without any liquid formulations). From the experiment, it was revealed that T7 [Shasyagavya (20%)] is the best organic liquid formulation for growth, yield and quality attributes of potato cultivars Kufri Pukhraj and Kufri Kanchan under the Chhotanagpur plateau of Jharkhand followed by the T3 [cow urine (15%)] treatment. Thereby, the highest yield of 22.96 t.ha-1 [Kufri Pukhraj] and 15.44 t.ha-1 [Kufri Kanchan: second highest yield with non-significant differences] with the application of Shasyagavya (20%) solution. Similarly, cow urine (15%) emerged as the best treatment in terms of yield (15.52 t.ha-1) for Kufri Kanchan with statistically at per yield (22.70 t.ha-1) was obtained from Kufri Pukhraj with the application of same organic liquid formulation. Starch content was recorded significantly higher in both varieties of potato with the application of Shasyagavya (20%). In this context, 13.92% and 11.59% starch contents were documented in Kufri Pukhraj and Kufri Kanchan varieties of potato, respectively. When economic aspect was taken into account, then T7 i.e. Shasyagavya (20%) applied treatment emerged as the best B: C ratio of 3.10 in the case of Kufri Pukhraj variety followed by T3 i.e. cow urine (15%) applied treatment with the B: C ratio of 3.06 for the same variety. In case of Kufri Kanchan variety the highest B: C ratio of 2.47 was documented with the application of cow urine (15%) solution followed by the Shasyagavya (20%) solution with 2.45 B: C ratio. From the findings, it may be concluded that liquid formulations of organic manures have immense potentiality to grow potatoes in Chhotanagpur plateau regions of Jharkhand.
Keywords: Potato; (Solanum tuberosum L); Kufri Pukhraj; Kufri Kanchan; Cow urine; Shasyagavya; growth parameters; yield parameters; quality attributes.