Management of potato seed at farm level in Punjab

Seed is an important input for all crops. The present study has been undertaken to study the management of potato seed by the farmers in Punjab. Keeping in view the large concentration of potato area in Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts, both these districts were selected from the major potato growing districts in Punjab for the present study. The study revealed that selected farmers used maximum quantity of self-retained seed from previous autumn crop. The seed replacement ratio for certified seed in Punjab is considered to be low. The study revealed that SRR for certified seed for potato crop was 12.97 per cent for potato crop. Also the yield of potato crop planted with certified seed was high by 16 per cent and is statistically significant at one per cent level of significance. It was suggested that to make the certified seeds available to the farmers within their easy reach, the public seed agencies have to be strengthened for their distribution network in the major potato producing districts of the state.