Propagation
Potato is conventionally grown vegetatively using
tubers as planting material. Each tuber has several eyes distributed over its
surface with each eye having 3–5 buds which develop into sprouts. When planted
in the ground, the sprouted tuber establishes itself into a plant. Each sprout,
on emergence above the ground, develops into a stem bearing leaves and
branches.
The quality of seed is most important to ensure
good crop production. This is because, seed tubers account for about 40–50% of
the total input cost. In India, prior to 1960, potato seed used to be imported
to replace the local seed stocks of various regions. Some indigenous
replacement from hills and indigenous production of some local varieties
in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh was also prevalent. Northern hills used to be the
major source of healthy seed for planting potato crop in the plains.
The area
in the hills was, however, highly inadequate to meet the total seed demand of
the country. Besides, the seed produced in the hills used to be in dormant
stage at the optimum time of planting of the crop in the plains and the
varieties grown under long day conditions in the hills were often not popular
for cultivation under short day conditions in the plains. In view of these
constraints, efforts were made to produce healthy seed in the plains. Extensive
research led to the development of ‘seed plot technique’ for production of
healthy seed in north Indian plains. Using this technique, Punjab, Haryana and
Uttar Pradesh have emerged as important potato seed-producing states in the
plains.
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