Characterization of Farmers’ Varieties of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) of Cooch Behar District of West Bengal

Three Farmers’ Varieties of potato from Cooch Behar district of West Bengal viz., Pakri alu, Badami alu and Cooch Behar Local-1 have been identified. They are being cultivated by the local farmers since long. For registration under Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Right Authority (PPV&FRA), New Delhi, these varieties were characterized following the “Guidelines for Conduct of Test for Distinctiveness, Uniformity and Stability on Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.)” published by PPV&FRA (2009). Twenty seven qualitative and eleven quantitative characters have been used to compare the distinctiveness of these cultivars. Significant variability was observed for plant height, number of matured tubers per plant, tuber length, tuber diameter, tuber weight and tuber yield. However, days to emergence, number of branches per plant, leaf length and leaf width showed insignificant differences among the Farmers’ Varieties. The plant height ranged from 29.92 cm to 63.90 cm. Maturity of tuber was earliest (92.34 days) in Pakri alu followed by Badami alu (94.58 days) and Cooch Behar Local-1 (95.50 days). Highest yield was recorded in Cooch Behar Local-1 (16.57 t/ha) followed by Badami alu (15.85 t/ha) and Pakri alu (15.03 t/ha).