- Potato is an important crop grown worldwide, including as a staple in India and Himachal Pradesh. It provides vitamins, minerals, and starch. - The document discusses potato varieties, production practices like soil preparation, planting methods, irrigation, and harvesting. It also covers physiological disorders, post-harvest handling, and marketing challenges. Potato is grown across a wide range of climates in India.

1. POTATO

2. Solanum tuberosum
CHROMOSOME NO.-2n=4x=48
Family: Solanaceae
ORIGIN:
Peru and Bolivia in South America

3. Among the major potato growing countries of
the world, China ranks first in area followed by
Russian Federation, Ukrain and Poland.
India ranks fifth in area and production in the
world.
Area : 1.32 m ha
Production : 24 m t
Productivity : 18 t/ha
In European and American countries, the
productivity is about 30-40 t/ha.

4.  Important cash crop of India and is grown under wide range
of climate viz., temperate, subtropical, warmer plateau region
and Nillgiri hills.
 Great NI plains are very suitable for its cultivation
 Rich alluvial soil,
 Availability of plenty of water, and
 A very congenial climate
 This region accounts for nearly 82% of the potato area and
85% of the total potato production of the country.
 Plays a vital role in the economy of Himachal Pradesh.
 High hills are quite favourable for the production of disease
free tubers/seed potato.
 Area in H.P. is 16.2 thousand ha with a production of 140
thousand tones.
 Fits well in multiple cropping and inter-cropping systems due
to considerable flexibity in planting and harvesting time in
addition to its short duration.
Importance

5. Uses
 Proved its worth in feeding the nation in
emergency.
 An important source of starch.
 Rich source of body building substances such
as vitamins (B1, B2, B6 and C), minerals (Ca, P
and Fe) and protein.
 All dietary substances except fat.
 Used as staple diet in many of the countries
specially in the west.
 Raw potato should not be consumed as they
result in cramps in stomach.

6. Climate
 A cool season crop, tolerate moderate frost.
 20oC soil temperature for better germination.
 Young plants growth is good at 24oC but later growth
is favoured by a temperature of 18oC
 No tuberization when the night temperature is more
than 23oC. Maximum tuberization is encountered at
20oC. Tuber formation stop completely at about 29-
30oC.
 Planting is done in the hills when the maximum
temperatures are about 20-22oC and minimum
temperature are about 12-15oC
 Well drained clay loam soils, rich in humus.
 pH 5 to 6.5.
Soils

7. Varieties recommended for cultivation in India
Early Varieties
(ready in 70-80 days)
Main season varieties
(ready in 90-95 days)
Kufri Ashoka Kufri Jyoti
K. Chandermukhi K. Sutlej
Kufri Jawahar K. Pukhraj, K. Megha
Kufri Lauvkar K. Badshah, Kufri Anand
Late Varieties Kufri Bahar, K. Sadabahar
K. Jeevan, K. Khasigaro, Kufri Sindhuri, Kufri Lalima
K. Neelamani, K. Naveen K. Deva, K. Sherpa, K. Swarna
FOR PROCESSING: Kufri Chipsona1, Kufri Chipsona 2,
Kufri Chipsona 3, Kufri Himsona
For H.P.: K. Jyoti, K. Chandermukhi, K. Giriraj, K. Himsona

8. AGRONOMIC PRACTICES

9. Soil preparation and planting
►A well prepared soil provides sufficient room for the
development of tubers and also helps to retain
moisture.
►The fields are ploughed to a depth of 20-35 cm and
clods are broken.
►Hot weather cultivation consists of ploughing during
summer (May-June) and keeping it fellows, helps in
reducing the problem of soil borne pathogens/pests
and also controls perennial weeds.
►In higher hills, 2 ploughings with mould board
plough before snowfall in October-November and 2
ploughings before potato planting give desirable
tilth.

10. Region Season PlantingTime HarvestingTime
North western hills
Very high hills Summer April-May Sept-Oct
High hills Summer Mid March-April Sept-Oct
Mid hills Spring Jan-Feb May-June
North central high hills Summer Mid Feb-March August-Sept.
North eastern high hills Spring Mid Dec-Mid Jan July-August
Shillong hills Summer March-April July-August
Autumn March-April Dec-Jan
Winter Jan-Feb May-June
Planting season
Contd…….
North western plains (Jammu,
Pb, Western U.P., Har, Raj,
Plains of M.P)
Early Mid Sept Mid Nov-Dec
Autumn Mid Oct Feb-March
Spring Jan April
North Central Plains Winter Mid Oct Feb-March
North Eastern plains
Bihar Winter Oct end to Nov.2nd week Jan-Feb
W.B. Winter Early Nov Jan-Feb
Orissa Winter Early Nov Jan-Feb
Plateu regions Kharif June-July Sept-Oct
Rabi Oct-Nov Feb-March

11. Low Hill September-
October
January
Mid Hill September December-
January
High Hill March- April April- May
Sowing Time in H.P.

12.  Propagated through tubers.
 The eyes on the tuber surface contain axillary buds.
 The tubers have a dormancy of nearly 8-10 weeks.
 When dormancy is over, axillary buds start germinating and
produce sprouts.
 Planting sprouted tubers put up fast and vigorous growth.
Seed preparation
Breaking of Dormancy
 Thiourea (Sodium Potassium thiocyanate) @ 1-2% treatment to cut
tubers for 1-1½ hours. 1 kg for 10q of seed tuber. or
 Tubers are kept in 5ppm solution of GA3 for 10 seconds. or
 Treat the tuber with acquous solution of thiourea for one hour followed
by dipping in 2 ppm solution of GA for 10 seconds. Or
 Ethylene chlorohydrine used as a gas treatment. 6 parts of water and 4
parts of chemical is mixed and keep tubers in this solution for 5 days in
an air tight chamber at 70-80oF temperature.
Preparation of tubers from cold storage:
Warm up the tubers at 60oF for 10-14 days before sowing which sprout
quickly and give good germination stand.

13. ◙ Seed rate-25-30 q per ha
◙ Proper combination of seed size and spacing is essential to get the required
number of stems per unit area.
◙ Planting 40-50 g tuber with 40-50mm diameter at a spacing of 45-60cm X 20-25
cm.
◙ Large tubers are cut into pieces, each containing atleast 1-2 eyes.
◙ Tuber cutting is not recommended specially when producing a seed crop
because of danger of transmitting viruses and bacteria.
◙ Special care is taken to avoid tuber decay when cut tubers are used for
plantation.
Seed rate and Spacing
☻ Treat the cut tubers with 0.25% Dithane-Z-78 and
0.1% Bavistine to prevent rotting
☻ Heal cut tubers at 18-210C and 85-90% RH for 2-3
days (suberization) to prevent rotting.
☻ Don’t treat the tubers with any chemical if sprouts
are coming out.
☻ Treat with aglal (0.5%) for 5-10 minutes to control
scab disease.
TREATMENT OF CUT SEED TUBERS

14. METHODS OF THE PLANTING
- Ridge and furrow method
 Most popular, carried out manually or mechanically
- Mechanical method
 Furrows are made with the help of tractor drawn 2-4 row marker-
cum-fertilizer drills so as to apply fertilizer in one sequence.
 This is followed by planting of tubers with the help of 2-4 rows
planter-cum-ridger
- On flat surface followed by ridges
- Care must be taken that seed tubers do not come in direct contact
of fertilizers.
Nutrient Management
FYM (t/ha) N (Kg/ha) P2O5 (Kg/ha) K2O (Kg/ha)
FOR HP 100 120 80 60
FOR PLAINS 100 150-180 60-80 100-120
 Full FYM, P and K and half N at planting time.
 Remaining N should be top dressed at earthing up .

15. ♣Mulching helps in conserving soil moisture, reducing soil
temperature and inducing quick germination.
♣Local available materials such as pine needles or leaf litters
are quite effective in controlling run off losses and conserving
moisture.
♣Weeds are effectively managed by cultural or chemical
methods or combination of both methods.
♣Hoeing cum weeding in one month old crop followed by
earthing up, effectively control weeds.
♣Pre-emergence application of fluchloralin@ 1 kg a.i. per ha or
alachlor@ 1 kg a.i. per ha or pendimethalene@ 1.8 kg a.i. per
ha or atrazine @ 1.0 kg a.i. per ha can effectively control the
weeds.
♣ Post emergence application (5-10% emergence) of
paraquat@ 0.36 kg a.i. per ha is also effective.
♣Post emergence application of Tok-e-25 @2.5kg a.i. per ha at
about 2-3 leaf stage is also helpful in managing the weeds.
Interculture and weed control

16.  Pre-planting irrigation is advantageous for uniform
germination.
 Second irrigation is given after about a week and
subsequent as and when required.
 Light and frequent irrigations are better than heavy
and less frequent irrigations.
 Total water requirement =350-500mm
Critical stages
 Stolon formation
 Tuber initiation and tuber development
 Stop irrigation 10 days before harvesting to allow
firming of tuber skin.
IRRIGATION

17.  The crop is harvested when it is fully matured
 This can be characterized by when haulms turn yellow and no
pulling out of skin on rubbing of tubers.
 At the time of harvesting, field should not be too wet nor too dry.
 Tractor operated potato diggers are available for digging the
tubers from the fields.
HARVESTING
Grading
3 grades according to size and weight of the tubers.
Grade A (Large): Tuber weight more than 75g
Grade B (Medium): Tuber weight between 50-75g
Grade C (Small): Tuber weight less than 50g
Early varieties 200 q/ha
Late Varieties 300 q/ha
Yield

18. Post harvest handling
►Nearly 20% of total potato production is used as planting material
in the following season.
►Handling of seed stocks particularly become very important.
►After harvesting, Keep tubers in heaps in cool places for drying and
curing of skin for 10-15 days.
►Heaps 3-4 m long wide at the base and 1 m in the central height
are the best.
►In hills, tubers are spread in well ventilated rooms for drying.
►After grading potato tubers for seed crop next year are treated
with 3% boric acid solution for 30 minutes for protecting against
soil borne pathogen before storing in the bags.
►In the plains, tubers after drying, curing and grading are stored in
cold stores where temperature is maintained at 2-4 0C with 75-
80% RH.
►Low temperature checks sprouting and rottage and high RH
reduces weight loss in tubers.

19. Marketing
The factors which makes marketing of potato as a
complicated process and result in high fluctuation of
prices and often glut situation are:
☻Transportation to long distances is problem as potatoes are semi-
perishable and bulky.
☻Often potatoes rot during transit because of high temperature at
the time of transport.
☻Problem is further compounded due to shortage of transporting
wagons.
☻Total cold storage capacity in the country is adequate only to store
35-40% of the total production.
☻Functioning of CS many a time is not upto the mark and is marked
by various mal practices.
☻The markets in potato producing belts in NI plains are not
properly integrated with major consuming markets of
metropolitan cities.

20. Value added products
Potatoes can be easily processed into dehydrated and
canned products like:
 Chips
 Flakes
 French fries
 Finger chips
 Granules
 Disc
 Cubes
 Flour etc.
◙ Processing industry is also picking up in the recent
past
◙ It is desirable to avoid glut and consequent difficulty
of storing large quantities of potatoes during period
of high temperature after harvest in the plains.

22. PHYSIOLOGICAL DISORDERS

23.  Avoid over fertilization particularly N
 Maintain optimum soil moisture conditions.
1. HOLLOWHEART
☻ Caused by rapid growth
☻ Tubers become oversized and remain empty
within leading to formation cavity in centre with
death of small area of pith cells
☻ Resulting in adjacent cracks and hollowness as
the centre expands during the growth.
2. BLACK HEART
☻ Sub-oxidation conditions under potato
tuber storage in piles.
☻ Higher temperature & excessive moisture
resulted in blackening of tissues in the
centre.
☻ Appearance of tuber affect consumers
otherwise no decay.
♣ Provide proper ventilation
♣ Keep potato tubers in layers and do not store tubers in the heap.

24. Factors associated with increased
glycoalkaloid (solanin) contents
Mechanical injury,
Premature harvest,
Excessive application of fertilizers
Exposure of tubers to sunlight
3. GREENING
♣ Proper earthing up of tubers as the tuberization takes place
♣ Store tubers in darkness after digging up.
4. TRANSLUCENT END
► Related to environmental stress i.e.
draught and heat.
► Appear at the proximal end of the tuber.
► Tubers show glossy appearance and are
irregular in shape.
► Results in decay in storage.
► These glossy areas are high in sugar and
low in total soluble solids
♣ Avoid excessive N
supply
♣ Maintain 50%
moisture in the field.

25. Boron deficiency or uneven water supply
5. KNOBBINESS
Uneven growth of tuber cells/tissues.
Uneven watering causes obstruction in
tuber growth.
Heavy irrigation after a long dry spell
leads to growth of some cells very fast
Frequent and optimum irrigation
☻Application of Borax @ 20kg/ha
☻Frequent and optimum irrigation supply
6. CRACKING
7. SUN SCALDING
☼ High temperature (>30oC) and more sunshine in autumn.
☼ Emerging sprouts and leaflets are drastically affected i.e. tip burn.
☻Pass Water through the furrows to lower the soil temperature.

26. 8. BLACK SPOT
 Grow resistant varieties
 Proper storage and growing conditions.
 Internal browning of potato tubers.
 Occurs in vascular tissues with in 3 days of
mechanical injury.
 Phenoles are related to black spot in potato
tubers.
9.FREEZING INJURY
► Exposure of tubers to freezing
temperature during or after harvest.
► -1.5oC or below temperature.
► Discoloration of tissues
► Leads to unmarketable tubers.
► Tubers show more damage towards
proximal end.
► Avoid exposure of tubers to freezing temperature

27. Often a serious problem in storage
☻ Spraying maleic hydrazide @ 1000-6000ppm
about 2-3 weeks before harvesting.
☻ Chemicals like Chloro IPC (N-tetra chloro
isopropyl carbonate)@ 0.5% and/or nomyl/amyl
alcohol @0.05-0.12mg/ha inhibit sprouting
10. SPROUTING
11. SWOLLEN LENTICELS
☻Exposure of the tuber to very wet conditions in
the field or in storage causes oxygen deprivation.
☻Besides giving an unmarketable appearance to
the tuber, provide entrance to pathogenic
organisms, bacterial soft rot and pink rot .
♣ Avoid over-watering and provide good drainage
♣ Avoid harvesting low, swampy spots in the field.
♣ Avoid condensation in storage. Keep storage well
ventilated.

28. DISEASES

29. Causal organism- Alternaria
solani
 Concentric rings of brown to black
colour are formed on the leaves.
 Heavily infected leaves fall off after
drying.
 Spots also appear on stems.
EARLY BLIGHT
MANAGEMENT
♣Destruction of crop debris by burning
♣Spray Ridomil MZ @2g/l or 0.3%
Blitox or 0.25% DM-45/DZ-78 at fort
night interval 3-4 times.
♣Resistant varieties – Kufri Naveen,
Kufri Jeevan

30. Casual organism:
Phytophthora infestans
 Lower leaves infcted
 Water soaked leisons appear
on the margins
 Cottony growth of fungus on
lower sides of leaves
 Decay of tubers
LATE BLIGHT
Management
☻Use of disease free seed.
☻Spray ridomil@ 2g per litre
☻Resistant varieties like Kufri
Jawahar, Kufri himsona, K. Jyoti,
K. Swarnima, K. Kanchan.

31. BROWN ROT:
(Pseudomonas
solanacearum)
 Wilting and stunting of
plants
 Soil borne and carried
by infected tubers
used as seed also.
MANAGEMENT:
 Crop rotation with
maize and wheat.
 Disease free tubers

32. BLACK SCURF
(Rhizoctonia solani)
•Sprouts are killed before emergence
•Cankers cause wilting of plants
•Black crust on tubers resulting in ugly
appearance
MANAGEMENT :
•Seed tubers should be treated with Aratan-6
or Tefasan 0.2%.
•Keep the tubers for 5 minutes in Aglal-3
@0.5% or Aglal-6 @0.2%.
•Treat the seed tubers for 15 minutes in
solution of 0.1% acetic acid + 0.5% ZnSO4.
•Use crop rotation
•Soil treatment with Brassicol @ 20-30 kg per
ha

33. Disease Control measures
Common Scab  Seed treatment with 0.5% Agalol-3 for 30 minutes
or
 Grow scab resistant varieties
Verticillium Wilt
(Soil borne disease)
► Use of disease-free seeds
► Resistant varieties
► long rotations
Charcoal Rot ☻Surface disinfection with some fungicides.
Wart disease ☻Soil sterilization by steam, mercuric chloride,
copper sulphate or 5% formalin.
☻Resistant varieties – K. Jyoti, K. Sherpa and K.
Kanchan
Black Leg and Soft
Rot
►Use of disease-free seeds
►long rotations
Bacterial Soft Rot ► Separate diseased tubers from healthy ones before
storage.
► Treat Seed tubers with 0.5% solution of Agalol-
3/Aretan-6/Emisan-6 before storage, for 30
minutes
Management of some common disease

34. Latent Mosaic Mechanically transmitted (PVX, PVS or
PVM)
Use-disease free seeds
Local quarantine
Mild Mosaic Use-disease free seeds
Use resistant varieties.
Rugose or Vein-
banding Mosaic
-do-
Purple top Leaf Roll Transmitted by leaf hopper
Use of certified disease-free seed
Control of insect vectors
Management of some common
viral diseases

35. Management of Mycoplasmal diseases
Disease Control measures
Purple-top-roll Control leaf hoppers (Alebrodes spp.)
Marginal
Flavescence
►Prevalent in North-west hills
►Use disease free seed material
Witch’s Broom ☻Prevalent in Deccan Plateau
☻Use disease free seed material
Potato
Phyllody
☻Prevalent in Deccan Plateau
☻Use disease free seed material
Rot knot
nematode
☻Keep land fallow for a quite long time
☻Follow crop rotation
☻Nematicides like DD @ 225 l/ha should
be injected in the soil.
☻Place between the rows EDB @ 175
kg/ha 2 weeks before planting.
Golden knot
nematode

36. INSECT -PESTS

37. 1.HADDA BEETLE:
(Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata)
 DAMAGING STAGE: Grubs and
adults
 Infected portion: Foliage
CONTROL:
 Spraying with 0.2% carbaryl
 dusting of 5% carbaryl @ 30 kg per
ha
2. Aphids(Myzus persicae)
 Damaging stage: nymphs and adults
 Infected portion: leaves and tender
shoots+ stem
 Transfers viral diseases
CONTROL:
 Spray oxy demeton methyl@
0.025% or dimethionate 50 EC@
0.05%

38. 3. Potato tuber moth
(Phthorimaea operculella)
CONTROL:
Seed potato should be protected by dusting
5% Malathion dust on and around the heap at
the rate of 5 kg per tonne
Two sprays of fenvalerate0.01% or
cypermethrin 0.0075/ deltamethrin 0.0028%

39. LEAF HOPPER
(Amarasca biguttela)
CONTROL
Spray malathion0.05%/oxy demeton methyl 0.025%/carbaryl
 0.1% 35EC@ 1.5 L/ha
Nymphs and adult damage the
crop.
They transmit virus.
CUT WORMS
►Caterpillar causes damage.
CONTROL
Drenching the soil
with chloropyriphos
20 EC@ 2.5 ml per L

40.  Use of healthy seed in vegetative propagated crop is very important
 Continuous use of same seed stocks year after year without
periodic replacement allows infiltration of diseases particularly
viruses.
 These viruses readily spread through contact of foliage and roots in
the field or through aphid vectors.
 Debilitating effect and bring down yield potential of infected tubers.
 High hills were the traditional sources of healthy seed as
population of aphids remain low due to low temperature.
 Accounts for only 5% of the area under potato and this was not
enough to meet the seed requirement of the plains.
 In 1962, Cockerham (Scotland) came to India to do some studies to
increase the potato yield.
 On the basis of data on appearance and build up of aphids in
different months, successful cultivation of seed potato in plains
under low or no aphid condition is possible.
 “Seed Plot Technique” i.e. raising the healthy seed crop during low
aphid period available in northern plains.
Seed Plot Technique

41.  Planting before the commencement of 10thOctober
 Sowing at closer spacing of 45cm X15 cm for smaller size tubers
 Two inspections to rogue out diseased or off-type plants during
growing season
 Application of granular systemic insecticides at planting or earthing
up.
 Restrict irrigation when crop has tuberized well by the middle of
December, and later with hold it completely.
 At the end of December or first week of January, cut haulm before the
aphid population build up to 20 aphids per 100 leaves.
 If the crop is still green destroy the haulms by spraying 2% solution of
CuSO4 or cut them.
 The harvesting of tubers is done in Mid February to end February
SEEDPLOTTECHIQUE
 Hot weather cultivation and green manuring
 Crop rotation for 2-3 years.
 One or two sprays of systemic insecticides + spray of metalaxyl or
Mancozeb in December- January.
 Dip tubers in 3% boric acid for 30 minutes after harvest and before storage
of the produce.
 Technique helps in meeting the large requirement of healthy seed in
country.

42. True Potato Seed
Cultivation through true potato seed is beneficial
because:
☻Seed material i.e. potato tubers required to cultivate
1.32 m ha area is around 33 m q (seed rate 25 q/ha).
☻Quality seed production, certification and storage of
such a huge quantity is very difficult.
☻Transportation of such a huge material is also
difficult and costly.
☻This can be used as food material.
☻True seed is free from viruses and many other
diseases as their management is easy due to small
area. Cost of cultivation is also less.

43. Methods of use of True potato seed
1. To raise seedlings and then
transplanting
2. Sowing of seed in nursery beds
and then raising them for
obtaining small sized potato
tubers which are used for
cultivation of the next crop.
These seeds are sown in raised
beds.

44. Problems associated with true
potato seed
♣Very small and weak as compared to tomato,
brinjal etc.
♣It is not grown very deep & also low application
of fertilizers is required.
♣It very difficult to maintain optimum moisture
conditions as it is sown very near to the surface.
♣Poor germination and unhealthy & weak nursery
seedlings of potato creating problems to farmers.
♣Therefore, farmers are not so
encouraged/enthusiastic to take up this venture
on large scale cultivation.

45. Refined technique for raising TPS
♣ Make nursery bed of size 2 m x 1m & then bricks are laid
on these beds.
♣ Fine soil and FYM in equal proportion is put on thse bricks
making the surface 4-5 cm raised.
♣ Irrigation is given on the surface & the moisture is
reaches to the surface through capillary action of the
bricks.
♣ Sowing is done on this surface of the bricks.
♣ Seed is mixed with fine & well decomposed FYM & then
put FYM on the raised surface for good germination or
after broadcasting, the seed is covered with FYM.
♣ 3-4 small seeds are kept at equal spacing on one brick
which is covered with FYM to raise small sized tubers.
♣ Irrigation is given upto the half level of bricks.