1Central Potato Research Institute Campus, Modipuram-250 110, (Uttar Pradesh).
2Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla-171 001, (Himachal Pradesh).
*Present address: Division of plant physiology, IARI, New Delhi-110 012.
Sprout suppression effect of methanol, ethanol, acetaldehyde and ethyl ester derivative of 2,4 dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2,4-DEE) was investigated using tubers of the popular potato cultivar Kufri Bahar. Sprouts present at the time of treatment were killed by all the four chemicals tried but the second growth of sprouts was differentially affected by different treatments. Methanol (50 and 100%), ethanol (40, 80 and 100%) and acetaldehyde (30%) applied @ 0.5 ml/kg tubers remained effective for 10 days while 2,4-DEE applied @ 62 mg/kg tubers, was effective in checking sprout growth up to 40 days after treatment. The study suggests that there is a need to screen more chemicals with herbicidal property for use as sprout suppressants at higher storage temperatures.
