Nitrogen management in potato for maximum tuber yield, quality and environmental conservation

The present investigation was undertaken on “Nitrogen management in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.)” and to identifya carefullycontrolled nitrogen application rateand better synchronization between applied nitrogen and potato nitrogen uptake at Vegetable Research Centre of G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand during rabi season of 2012–13 and 2013–14. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design consisting of nine treatments replicated thrice. The pooled data of two years investigation revealed that the performance of potato crop was significantly influenced by different split nitrogen doses. Among all treatments, treatment T₄ (50% basal N + 25% top dressing at 25 DAP + one foliar spray@ 2% urea at 40 DAP) was found best with respect to overall plant growth, yield (34.98 t/ha), protein content (7.56%) andbenefit: costratio(1.81). Thetreatment T₄(50% basalN + 25% top dressing at 25 DAP + one foliar spray@ 2% urea at 40 DAP) not only give 18.09% and 43.48% more yield over thetreatment T₁(RDF: 50% basal N+50% topdressing at25 DAP) and T₉ (Noapplication ofnitrogen), respectively, but also saves 22% nitrogen. The dry matter content of potato was recorded maximum (19.48%) with treatment T₈ and specific gravity(1.09)with treatment T₉. Basedon overall performance, it could be concluded that under prevalent climatic conditions of Uttarakhand Tarai region, 50% basal N + 25% top dressing N at 25 DAP + one foliar spray@ 2% urea at 40 DAP is the best in terms of higher and economic yield of potato than RDF (50% basal N + 50% top dressing N at 25 DAP) and also in reducing N losses to the environment.