6. HORT201_Potato_L2SI.ppt

www.potatoesforschools.org.uk
Prof. Dr. M. Jahedur Rahman
Department of Horticulture
SAU, Dhaka
(Solanum tuberosum)
POTATO CULTIVATION

Food value and uses
• Potatoes are a versatile, carbohydrate rich food
highly popular worldwide and prepared and served
in a variety of way
• The potato is a moderate source of iron, and it has
high vitamin C
• It is a good source of vitamins B1, B3 and B6 and
minerals such as potassium, phosphorus and
magnesium.

TOP POTATO PRODUCER IN
WORLD(2011)
PRODUCTION IN MILLION METRIC
TON
CHINA 88.4
INDIA 44.3
RUSSIA 32.7
UKRAINE 24.2
UNITED STATES 19.4
GERMANY 11.8
BANGLADESH 8.3
POLAND 8.2
FRANCE 8
BELARUS 7.7
TOTAL 374.4
PRODUCTION STATUS

Scientific classification

INTRODUCTION
• Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) are a
member of the family Solanaceae
• More than a billion people worldwide eat
potato
• The potato is the third most important
food crop in the world after rice and
wheat in terms of human consumption

Morphology
• An erect, perennial, aromatic
herb up to 1 m tall
• Sparsely hairy, with tuber-
bearing underground stolons
• Stems erect, succulent, winged,
branching
• The tuber is morphologically a
flesh stem bearing buds and
eyes in the axile of small scale
like leaves

• Leaves: Divided into 3–5 pairs of leaflets
• The leaves are compound and
alternate, irregularly odd pinnate
• Flowers: White to pink, purple or blue
• The seeds are produced in a berry
• Fruits: A succulent (but inedible), spherical,
yellow-green to purple berry, up to 4 cm in
diameter

Soil suitability
• The ideal soil is a deep well-drained, medium
heavy loam with as few stones as possible
• High pH should be avoided
• Optimum pH should be about pH 5 or 5.5
• The soil must be frost free, so coastal areas
are very suitable

Recommended Varieties in Bangladesh
 Diamant
 Cardinal
 Granola
 Multa
 Patrones
 Origo
 Binella
 Heera
 Asterix
 Elvira
 Ultra
 Provento
 Kufri Sinduri

Factors to consider when choosing a
variety
• The farmer needs to consider the following
when choosing his variety
• Consumer’s choice (Saleability)
• Yield
• Maturity
• Disease resistance
• Seed availability

Growth Stages
Growth Stage I: Sprout Development
Growth Stage II: Vegetative Growth
Growth Stage III: Tuber Set/Initiation
Growth Stage IV: Tuber Bulking
Growth Stage V: Maturation

Preparation of soil
• Deep plough the soil to a depth of 22-25cm
• All stones should then be removed
• Stones can bruise potatoes (allowing infection)
during harvesting and must be removed.
• Stones can be removed by hand or a machine
called a de-stoner
• The soil is then cultivated into ridges, using a
specialised machine

• A ridge is a raised area of soil into which the seed is
sown
• Ridges should be between 75 – 90 cm wide and
15cm deep
• Wide ridges lesson potatoes “greening”, lesson
compaction and give greater yields
• Ridges prevent the seed from water logging
• Seeds are sown into the ridges at a depth of 10 cm
below surface- 76cm apart

• The spacing of the seed in the ridges is governed by the
size of the seed
• As seed size increases the number of eyes / auxiliary
buds per tuber increases
• This protects the seed from excess sunlight
• Seed should be sprouted before sowing as it speeds up
growth, plant emergence and yields

Field Establishment
• Potatoes are planted in open ridges or drills
• They are earthed up or moulded and harrowed
down at intervals
• Earthing up is carried out when the crop is 20-
25cm high

• A ridger is used to deepen the furrows and widen
the ridges
• At the end of the growing season, the plant's
leaves and stems die down to the soil level and its
new tubers detach from their stolons
• The tubers then serve as a nutrient store that
allows the plant to survive the cold and later
regrow and reproduce

Irrigation
• Potatoes need frequent irrigation
• The first irrigation should be given immediately
after sowing
• Thereafter at one week intervals
• After tuber formation, the frequency of irrigation
is decreased
• Care must be taken while irrigating that the water
does not reach fee top of the ridge
• Irrigation should be stopped a few days before
harvesting

Earthing Up
• Earthing up is an important post sowing
cultivation of the potato crop
• When the plant is 15 – 20cm high, a ridger is
used to bank up more soil around the stem

Earthing up is important because;:
• It keeps the soil loose
• Prevents greening of potatoes
• Stops annual weeds from germinating
• Can help to prevent disease (blight)
• Can help to increase yield

Weed Control
• Crops are sprayed with a contact herbicide when one
quarter of plants have appeared over the soil
• A contact (residual) herbicide kills all plant tissue it
comes in contact with
• This allows for weeds to be controlled until “shading”
occurs, which naturally prevents weeds
• Shading refers to the time when plants meet across
ridges
• Earthing up also prevents weeds

Weed Control
• Weedicides like linuron or simazine (0.5 kg/ha) applied as
pre-emergence spray are effective. Lasso @ 2 litres/ha can
also be used.
• CIP is developing more nutritious, pest- and disease-
resistant varieties, introducing agricultural practices that
conserve natural resources, and implementing participatory
market approaches to increase incomes and promote
sustainable development.

Nutrition: Fertilizer
Requirements
• Soil should be tested before applying
fertilizer to determine what is requirement
and how
• Typical Application Rates:
• Nitrogen: 125 – 150 kg / ha
• Phosphorous: 125 – 150 kg / ha
• Potassium: 250 – 300 kg / ha
• 10:10:20 or 7:6:17 Sulphate of Potash are
ideal for potatoes
• Fertilizer should be applied prior to sowing

NUTRIET MANAGEMENTNT
• Potato being a shallow-rooted crop, requires high nutrients.
It needs 120-150 kg N, 45 kg P205 and 100 kg K2O /Ha.
The response to NPK depends not only upon the fertility
status of soils but also on variety, cropping system and
source of nutrients.

• Fertilizer application must be balanced
• Nitrogen increases yields but decreases dry
matter
• Avoid excess nitrogen as it gives higher yield
but lowers eating quality and can lead to
blight susceptibility
• Phosphorous increases blight resistance and
increases dry matter
• Potassium increases tuber size

Seed
• Certified seeds should be preferred, small seed potatoes sprouts late
and in smaller numbers, while large seed tubers sprout earlier.
• Tubers should be true-to-type. Medium-sized, 40-50 g in weight,
40-45 mm in diameter and disease-free tubers should be preferred.
• The seed rate varies according to sowing time. In general, 15-20 q
large whole tubers, 10-15 q medium-sized tubers, 8-10 q small size
tubers and 6-8 q cut tubers are required for 1 ha area.
• It is usually better to buy them individually from a bulk rather then
to buy that packed in plastic.
• Potatoes should not be sprouting or have green coloration since this
indicates that they may contain the toxic alkaloid solanine.

• Already cleaned potatoes should be
avoided since when their protective
coating is removed by washing,
potatoes are more vulnerable to
bacteria.
• New potatoes much more
susceptible to damage.
• Buy one that are free from
discoloration and injury.

• The temperate regions of Asia include portions of China, Korea,
Turkey, and all of Central Asia. here potato production is second
only to wheat, consumption rates rank among the highest in the world.
• Production systems vary across the temperate zone from diversified,
single cropping to intensive double cropping
• CIP is helping national partners develop varieties resistant to biotic
and abiotic stress, improve farmer-based seed production systems,
develop effective management practices, and influence promote more
durable management of natural resources.
Potato cultivation :
Temperate region

Through out Asia’s subtropical lowlands (spanning the Indo-
Gangetic Plain in the West and China and Indochina in the east),
potatoes serve as an important complement to cereal-based diets.
Subtropical lowlands

• CIP is working to establish an integrated breeding system to
deliver varieties of early maturing, heat-tolerant potatoes that meet
the requirements of Asian farmers, consumers, and markets.
• Potato production normally takes place in the short days of the
winter season between harvesting and planting rice. Because Asia’s
winter potatoes are grown with residual moisture .
• The development of an early, heat-tolerant potato—one that can
utilize residual irrigation water—would greatly benefit farmers.

In Asia and Africa, it functions as
one of the few crops that farmers
produce for both food security
purposes and income generation.
Given these similarities, the
Highland Potato Program targets
and links research across
comparable agro-eco-regions on
three continents.
Highland

• International Potato Center,
based in Lima Peru holds
an ISO-acridated collection
of potato germplasm.
• One wild potato species, S.
fendleri found in texas is
used in breeding for
resistant of nematode in
cultivated potato.
• Hexaploid solanum
demissum source of
resistant to devastating late
blight diseases.
CROP
IMPROVEMENT

PHYSIOLOGICAL DISORDERS
Non-parasitic diseases which are the result of physiological
imbalance caused by unfavourable environmental conditions
are mentioned as below.
– Internal brown spot
– Black heart
– Hollow heart
– Chilling injury
– Freezing injury

• Potato blight – a fungal disease which
can affect plants in humid weather
• Blackleg – a bacterial disease which
thrives in wet conditions
• Gangrene – fungal
• Common scab – bacterial disease which
thrives in soils with high pH
• Potato mosaic – viral disease spread by
aphids
Diseases

Potato Blight
• Potato Blight or Phytophtora infestans is a
fungal disease
• Symptoms-browning and subsequent
blackening of the leaves and rotting of the
tubers
• It causes premature death of haulms with
resultant yield losses
• This leads to infection and rotting during
storage
• The spread of potato blight is favoured by
warm humid weather conditions

Preventing Blight
• Do not sow seeds showing any signs of
blight
• Earthing up creates greater distance
from zoospore and tuber
• Remove all tubers at harvest (known as
volunteer potatoes)
• Spray with contact or systemic fungicide
throughout the growing season, every
10 – 14 days
• Remove haulms before harvesting

Preventing Diseases
• Diseases are prevented by spraying
fungicides every 7 – 10 days
• There are different types of fungicides:
• 1)Systemic: goes to all parts of the
plant and is best when the
growth is rapid
• 2)Contact: only protects what it
touches
• 3)Translaminar: spreads all over leaf
and protects it
• Spraying insecticides kills aphids and
prevents viral diseases

Pests in potato cultivation
The main pests of potatoes are:
• Wireworms – can eat into tubers, common
after grass, prevented using poison baits
• Slugs – eat into tubers, high numbers during
wet summers, killed using slug pellets
• Aphids – eat plant and carry viral diseases,
controlled using insecticides or ladybirds
• Potato nematode and eelworms – eat into
tubers, controlled by crop rotation

Harvesting
• Potatoes are harvested from May/Early June on
depending on variety and part of the country
• Main crop potatoes are harvested in late
September or October where tubers are fully-
grown and mature

• The time of harvesting is very important in potato. The
development of tubers continues till the vines die. Potatoes are
harvested when desirable size is obtained with fully ripe vines.
Care should be taken to save the tubers from injury while
harvesting.
• If harvesting is delayed, it is best to leave the soil dry and
irrigate the field lightly at the time of harvesting.
• It is never advisable to harvest tubers in wetland.
• The late-sown crop in plains should be harvested latest by
April-end to avoid high temperature and charcoal rot infection
in tubers. After harvesting, tubers should be surface dried and
kept in shade in heaps for 10-15 days.
HARVESTING AND POST-HARVEST
MANAGEMENT

Storage
Buildings which store the potatoes must be
• leak proof
• frost proof
• Potatoes are also covered with a layer of straw to
protect against frost
• well ventilated to prevent sprouting and rotting.
• large enough to allow easy access of tractors and
trailers.
• Temperature 4-6 0C

STORAGE
• Potato being a semi perishable commodity and needs
proper storage facility. The potatoes are stored in
pits,diffused light storage rooms,thatched mud wall
rooms,etc up to the month of june-july.Potato are stored at
2.2 to 3.3 degree celsius and 75-80% RH.

6. HORT201_Potato_L2SI.ppt

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