1G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Bill Campus, Ranichauri-249 199, (Uttaranchal).
Five locally available mulch materials, viz., wheat straw, green twigs, FYM, Piltu (dry leaves of Pinus roxburghir) and forest litter were applied in potato cv. Kufri Jyoti. It was found that the mulches had significant influence on soil moisture, soil temperature, plant height, fresh shoot weight, tuber weight, number of tubers per plant and tuber yield. Mulching with FYM was found most efficient to increase the soil moisture, soil temperature, plant height, fresh shoot weight, tuber weight and tuber yield followed by forest litter. Cutworm incidence in tubers was low in plots mulched with green twigs, piltu, forest litter and wheat straw. Correlation coefficients indicated that higher tuber yield in plots mulched with FYM and forest litter was due to their ability to conserve high soil moisture and reduce maximum soil temperature favouring plant growth and tuber bulking, respectively.
