Sujan Ghimire , Pooja Bhusal , Ashok Rijal , Nirajan Acharya , Praju Ghimire

Faculty of Agriculture, Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, 44209, Nepal
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Horticulture, 2024, Vol. 14, No. 3   doi: 10.5376/ijh.2024.14.0015
Received: 26 Mar., 2024    Accepted: 22 May, 2024    Published: 30 May, 2024

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Ghimire S., Bhusal P., Rijal A., Acharya N., and Ghimire P., 2024, Effect of various mulching methods on growth and yield parameters of potato (Solanum tuberosum) varieties in Achham, Nepal, International Journal of Horticulture, 14(3): 135-141 (doi: 10.5376/ijh.2024.14.0015)

A field experiment was conducted from February to June 2022 at Thulasen of Mangalsen Municipality-Achham, Nepal to determine the suitability of various mulching materials on the growth and yield of different potato varieties. Two major varieties i.e. Khumal Seto and Cardinal grown with four types of mulching material (Black plastic mulch, Silver plastic mulch, Organic mulch, and Control) were set up in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The vegetative parameters evaluated were germination percentage at 20 and 30 DAP, plant height, aerial stem number, plant spread, and stem girth at 60, 75, and 90 days after planting (DAP). In contrast, the reproductive parameters including tuber number/m², yield (kg/m²) and graded tuber (number/m²) for three grades were taken after potato harvest. Data entry and analysis were done in MS- Excel and R-studio software respectively. Findings revealed that at a 5% level of significance, a significant difference was found in the interaction effect of variety and mulching material respective to germination, height, average yield, and tuber numbers for (>100 gm). Khumal Seto in black plastic mulch was found significantly superior for germination percentage at 30 DAP (93.33%), plant height (40.87 m), and yield parameters like average tuber yield (5.10 kg/m²) and tuber number above 100 gm (12.67). In addition, the Khumal seto variety had greater stem girth (3.03 cm) and tuber yield while the Cardinal variety had a maximum number of stems (11.17). The highest plant spread (48.13 cm) and stem girth (3.10 cm) were observed in black plastic mulch and the lowest was in control in 60, 75, and 90 DAP. Khumal Seto in black plastic mulch was found to be the most effective treatment for increasing the overall production of potatoes.

Cardinal; Khumal seto; Mulching; Potato (Solanum tuberosum)