Balance use of plant nutrients to improve the growth and yield of potato (Solanum tuberosum) under western plain agro-climatic zone of Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

The present study was undertaken at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Gautam Buddha Nagar (SVPUA&T), Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, during Rabi 2023-24. Potatoes are one of the most important tuber vegetable crops in the country, Agriculture's development is mostly dependent on the adaptation of scientific technologies and the optimal utilisation of available resources. One of the most substantial drawbacks of conventional potato growing is low productivity caused by a lack of adoption of balanced fertiliser use. In this context, on-farm testing was carried out at farmer's fields in order to assess and improve the tuber yield. The selected OFT’s farmers were received all of the suggested techniques. To overcome the lower productivity and less profitability in potatocultivation caused by (based on PCA) T1- Farmer’s practice: (non-recommended application of NPK (80:60:00 kg/ha) in potato crop + no/less use of micronutrients), KVK Gautam Buddha Nagar identified the problems and conducted an On-Farm Trial (OFT) in five different multi-locations, including Shaithli (02), Cholash (01), Noorpur (01) and Muthiyani (01) villages of block- Dadri, Gautam Buddha Nagar (U.P.), during Rabi 2023-24. It is resulted that 18.32% increase in tuber yield was achieved by applying T2- 75% RDF (150:120:100 kg ha-1) and 5.0 tonnes FYM (applied by farmers) with Zn @15.0 kg/ha + Bo 14.5% @4.0 kg ha-1 + Sulphur 90%@15.0 kg ha-1, as a crucial input applied as basal treatment were the interventions of KVK. In T1 and T2, the potato tuber yield was 242.93 qt. ha-1 and 287.44 q ha-1, respectively. The gross income for the potato tubers (ha-1) was T1 - ? 1.29 (in lakh) and T2- ? 1.90 (in lakh) respectively, while the cultivation costs were in T1- ? 54,500 and T2- ? 65,800. The assessed technology provides the additional benefit of ? 0.52 (B:C ratio T1: 2.37 and T2: 2.89 compared to farmers practices). The technology gap, extension gap and technology index were 37.56 q ha-1, 44.51 q ha-1 and 11.0% were recorded respectively. The field trial results were showed that the discrepancy between potential yield (Pi) and demonstrated yield (Di) was caused by an imbalanced utilization of plant nutrients. The application of micronutrients such as boron, sulphur, and zinc has a significant impact on several potato growth and production indices. In light of this assessment, the use of various micronutrients coupled with NPK is the most appropriate nutrition management technique that will boost tuber output, tuber quality, and economic return. As the farmer’s reactions and technical assessment, the evaluated treatments combination of RDF with inclusion of micronutrients in potato crop gives the healthy plant foliage and increase the yield of potato tuber.