Effect of origin and storage conditions on seed potato quality and field performance

In a study conducted at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana in collaboration with WUR, The Netherlands during 2013–14 and aimed at exploring the variation in quality of seed-lots having different storage conditions, 50 seed potato lots of variety Kufri Pukhraj were collected at random from seed growers of Punjab. Another objective of the study was to find relationships between storage conditions and performance of seed-lots after planting in the field. The seed-lots varied in respect of date of sowing, haulm killing and harvesting, seed size and storage conditions. There were large differences among seed-lots in terms of quality (Rhizoctonia, Fusarium dry rot and wet rot). The variation in seed-lots varied from 0–23, 0–90 and 0–30% in respect of Rhizoctonia, Fusarium dry rot and wet rot, respectively. The field experiment was conducted by taking all the 50 seed-lots as treatments and replicated thrice in randomized block design layout. The tuber yield among the seed-lots varied from 35.3 to 58.2 t/ha. The highest tuber yielder lot (number 32) was significantly better than the eight seed-lots (13, 24, 34, 37, 39, 44 and 47) and statistically at par with rest of the seed-lots. Though, we could not establish clear relationship between storage conditions and performance of seed-lots in the field due to large variation among seed-lots in respect of dates of sowing, haulm killing and harvesting and seed sizes yet the results indicated that for the state to establish itself as a quality seed potato hub for national and international market, there is need to bring uniformity in seed tubers being produced in the state.