Indian Journal of Agroforestry

Potato crop has a wide flexibility inplanting and harvesting, thus it needs standardization of cultural practices under agroforestry for maximizing productivity. Planting time of potato (Solanum tuberosum) varieties was standardized underablock plantation of poplar (Populus deltoides Bartr.) spacedat 5 m x4 m. Treatments included early, mid and late sown potato varieties viz., Kufri Pukhraj, Kufri Jyoti and Kufri Badshah and five planting times viz., early-November, mid-November, late-November, mid-January and early-February. The best combination of sowing time and variety under block plantation of poplar was late-November sown Kufri Badshah, which produced highest tubers 10 plant⁻¹, maximum yield 426.4 g plant⁻¹ and maximum total tuber yield of 18.33 t ha⁻¹. The tuber yield reduction under poplar plantation compared to open conditions was 6.2% in Kufri Badshah and 11.5% in Kufri Pukhraj when sown during late-November. However, maximum starch content of tubers was observed in Kufri Pukhraj (61.87 mg g⁻¹) and amongst the sowing times maximum starch content was observed in crop sown during mid November (77.17 mg g⁻¹). The mid-January and early-February crops gave lower yield due to poor tuber formation as the tuber growth ceases at temperature above 30°C. The tuber yield (g plant⁻¹) and starch content (mg g⁻¹) of potato crop grown under poplar plantation (113.70 and 55.34) was significantly less compared to crop sown under open conditions (151.50 and 88.45).