Effect of Some Treatments on Improving Seed Multiplication Ratio in Potato by Stem Cutting

Abstract

A procedure for rapid multiplication technique of potato using stem cuttings induced to grow at the leaf nodes by removal the apical growing point is described. Sequential five experiments were conducted in the greenhouses and in the field of a private farm (Nubaria district, Bahaira Governorate, Egypt), during the period from 2012 to 2015. In the first experiment, the number of stem cuttings in the different tested cultivars ranged from 16.25 (cv. Patrones) to 38.50 (cv. Spunta). In the second experiment, the rooting hormone K-IBA improved root initiation and development of Spunta cv. and increased survival, root dry weight and quality, additionally had the highest values of tuber yield. The rate of multiplication was 400: 1 against 9: 1 for the conventional method. In the third experiment, a rooting substrate of sand: peat (1:1) enhanced survival, improved growth, yield attributes and M.R. In the fourth experiment, incidence of common potato viruses (PVX, PVY, PLRV and TRV) was negative in second generation of tubers when stem cutting technique was used. In the field study of the fifth experiment, the tuber yields and quality with rooted cuttings were statistically similar for crops from imported seed tubers, however, the proportion of marketable tubers (> 60 mm diameter) was approximately 59% and 50% less in the crops from rooted cutting and tubers from stem cutting, respectively, compared with those from imported seed tubers. Rooted stem cuttings gave the highest net profit. These results indicate that the stem cuttings and small tuber derived from stem cutting are two methods of growing potatoes, which need to be further evaluated for socio-economic assessment by farmers.