Performance of potato cultivars under different irrigation regimes at North-Eastern Indian Plateau

Under hilly terrain of North-Eastern India (NEI), potato based cropping system is practiced but the productivity level is much lower. Being an exhaustive crop, water saving irrigation techniques need to be adopted to maximize potato productivity, as availability of irrigation water is a great concern in the hilly region. Four potato cultivars were taken up with three different irrigation systems to study the performance efficacy. Plant growth attributes like plant height and leaf area index showed significant response under irrigation treatments, however, dry matter accumulation showed significant variation under varietal treatments. Plant growth rate parameters also exhibit significant response during the early developmental phase of the crop growth. There was a significant difference in crop yield among different cultivars. The crop yield was found highest for kufri megha (15.66 t ha⁻¹) over other three cultivars. The yield performance of Kufri Megha, Kufri Jyoti and Kufri Giriraj was found to be at par. The water use efficiency (WUE) and benefit cost ratio (BCR) was evaluated to be 14.66 kg ha⁻¹ mm⁻¹ and 1.85, 18.78 kg ha⁻¹ mm⁻¹ and 2.31, 20.63 kg ha⁻¹ mm⁻¹ and 2.31 for furrow, micro-sprinkler and gravity-fed drip, respectively.