Abstract
Field experiments were carried out to study the role of various planting depths i.e. 10, 15 and 20 cm along with mulching on growth and yield attributes of autumn potato crop sown at different dates (October- 01, 15 and 29) at Horticulture Research Farm, The University of Agriculture Peshawar, during 2014-15 and 2015-16. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with split plot arrangement. Sowing dates were kept in main plot, while planting depth and mulching were in sub plot. The two years average results revealed that sowing dates, planting depth, mulch treatments and their interactions have significant effects on potato growth and yield parameters. Potato crop sown earlier on October 01 showed maximum plant height (50.4 cm), number of leaves plant-1 (33) and marketable tuber yield (16.2 t ha-1). Regarding planting depths, tuber planted at a depth of 15 cm produced maximum emergence (86 %), plant height (45.5 cm), number of leaves plant-1 (32) and marketable tuber yield (13.8 t ha-1) as compared to tubers planted at a depth of 10 and 20 cm. Mulching resulted in maximum emergence (83 %), plant height (42.6 cm), number of leaves plant-1 (30) and marketable tuber yield (13.6 t ha-1) as compared to no mulching. The interaction effect of sowing dates, planting depth and mulching significantly affected all the growth and yield parameters. Therefore, it can be concluded from the results that early sowing of potato crop on October 01 at a depth of 15 cm with organic mulching resulted in better growth and yield of autumn potato crop under the climatic condition of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Keywords: Potato; Sowing dates; Planting depth; Mulching http://dx.doi.org/10.19045/bspab.2017.600155
Highlights
Block Design (RCBD) with split plot arrangement
Emergence (%) was significantly affected by planting depths, mulching and year as source of variation, while there was no significant effect of sowing dates on emergence (%)
The Planting Depth (PD) x M interaction as presented in (Figure 2) indicated that mulching was effective, when sowing depth was increased from 10-15 cm, while emergence linearly decreased with increased in depth of seed sowing
Summary
Emergence (%) was significantly affected by planting depths, mulching and year as source of variation, while there was no significant effect of sowing dates on emergence (%). Tuber planted at a depth of 15 cm resulted in maximum emergence (%). The increase in emergence (%) at 15 cm depth could be due to optimum temperature, soil moisture at sowing time. As shallow planting results in increase surface temperature and moisture stress, which affect tuber emergence. Planting seed tubers too shallow, can lead to tuber greening and moisture stress due to soil surface heat and evaporation [21].The rate of sprout growth increased as soil temperature increased from 10 to 20 0C. Sprouting capacity of seed tubers increased with increasing temperature and water potential [30]
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