Effect of Polypropylene Covers on Frost Protection and Yield of Potato Crop

Acyclic frost occurs in potato growing belt of Punjab i.e. Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala and adjoining districts which causes huge losses to potato. It severely affects the formation and development of potato tubers. The present study was conducted during the year 2011–12 to find solution of this region specific problem. Three practices evaluated in this study were i) irrigation irrespective of the frost, ii) light irrigations on occurrence of the frost and iii) covering the crop with non-woven polypropylene film after 50 days of sowing and the film was removed after 40 days. The parameters studied were crop damage due to frost, grade of tubers and total yield. The yield was significantly higher (301 q/ha) in covered potatoes as compared to plots without covering (255 q/ha and 225 q/ha). The covering also affected the size of tubers as higher quantity of medium and large sized tubers (83%) were obtained with covering while out of total tubers only 64 to 69 per cent tubers fell in these two categories where potatoes were left uncovered.