Abstract
A field experiment was conducted from November to March during the 2012 / 2013 planting season at Africa University farm, Mutare, Zimbabwe to evaluate the effects of plant spacing and different potato varieties on growth, yield and quality of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). The experiment was designed as a randomized complete block design with 4 × 3 factorial arrangements of treatments. The first factor was plant spacing (in-row spacing); 20, 25, 30 and 35 cm. The second factor was varieties: BP1, KY20 and Mnandi. Very close spacing produced a high number of small sized tubers leading to reduced marketable yield. The highest stem count was observed at high plant densities, the lowest at low plant densities. At low density plantings, leaf number per plant was high and at high density plantings the leaf number was reduced across all varieties. BP1 and KY20 exhibited the highest specific gravity and Mnandi had the least. Results of the study suggest that a wider spacing of 90 by 35 cm can be advantageous for all the three varieties since all the varieties compensated for the additional spacing to produce the highest marketable yield yet with less seed thus reducing production cost. Also from the study, an in-row spacing of 25 cm can be used by seed producers since the highest number of medium sized tubers was obtained and this size is normally used as seed. Key words: Plant spacing, potato yield, potato quality, potato varieties.
Highlights
Many factors influence potato yield and quality and among these are cultivar, plant population, soil type, weather conditions, water management, fertilization, seed piece size, pests and diseases (Khalafalla, 2001).Planting density strongly affects yield and more tubers and yield per square meter are expected at higher planting densities (Karafyllidis et al, 1996)
There was a rise in specific gravity up until it reached a peak at the standard spacing of 30 cm and a further increase in in-row spacing led to a fall in specific gravity
In this study we showed many important findings: In general, plant height increased progressively with increase in intra-row spacing depending on variety while leafiness was generally lower at the lowest plant spacing for all varieties all varieties showed a progressive increase in leafiness with increase in intrarow spacing length
Summary
Many factors influence potato yield and quality and among these are cultivar, plant population, soil type, weather conditions, water management, fertilization, seed piece size, pests and diseases (Khalafalla, 2001). Planting density strongly affects yield and more tubers and yield per square meter are expected at higher planting densities (Karafyllidis et al, 1996). (2007) and Creamer et al (1999), argued that optimizing plant density was one of the most important practices in potato production management, as it affects seed cost, plant development, yield and the quality of the crop. According to Love and Thompson-Johns (1999), plant spacing studies are among the earliest researches that were carried out in potato production.
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