VARIETAL PERFORMANCE OF POTATO UNDER LITCHI BASED AGGROFORESTRY SYSTEMS

Abstract

A field experiment was carried out in the Agroforestry and Environment Research Farm under the department of Agroforestry and Environment, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University, Dinajpur, during November 2014 to March 2015 to observe the varietal performance of potato under litchi based Agroforestry system along with sole cropping. The experiment was laid out with two factors Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) following three replications. The treatments were, factor A: two production systems viz. S1 (litchi + potato) and S2 (Potato sole cropping); factor B: Eight potato varieties viz. V1 (Diamond), V2 (Cardinal), V3 (Asterix), V4 (Carage), V5 (Lady Rosette), V6 (Granula), V7 (Raza) and V8 (4.26 R). So, the treatments combinations were S1V1, S1V2, S1V3, S1V4, S1V5 ,S1V6, S1V7, S1V8, S2V1, S2V2, S2V3, S2V4, S2V5, S2V6, S2V7and S2V8. The total number of experimental plot was 48 and the size of each plot was 2mx2m=4m2 . The result of the experiment revealed that there was a significant effect of plant height, leaf length, leaf breadth, no. of leaf shoot-1 , no. of shoot hill-1 , no. of tuber hill-1 , weight of tuber hill-1 , yield plot-1 , dry weight, tuber grade hill-1 . In case of main effects of variety, the highest tuber yield (18.88 tha-1 ) was recorded in the variety of Lady Rosette and the lowest tuber yield (12.29 tha-1 ) was recorded in the variety of Diamond. In case of main effect of production system, the highest tuber yield per hectare (21.94tha1 ) was recorded in sole cropping of potato and the lowest tuber yield (8.43tha-1 ) was found in Litchi+potato based Agroforestry system. From the economic analysis, it was observed that the higher BCR (3.50) was recorded in Litchi + Potato based Agroforestry system. On the other hand, the lower BCR (2.52) was recorded from the sole cropping of Potato. In case of interaction effect of the potato variety and production system, it was found that yield of potato varieties was lower when it was grown under litchi based Agroforestry systems, where as the yield was higher in sole cropping of potato. Moreover, among the eight potato varieties, Lady Rosette gave the better yield both in the litchi based Agroforestry systems as well as in sole cropping whereas the lowest yield was found in Diamond potato variety when grown in litchi based Agroforestry systems as well as in sole cropping. However, the suitability of the cultivation of different potato variety under litchi based Agroforestry systems may be ranked as Lady Rosette> Granula > Asterix > Carage> Raza > 4.26 R > Cardinal > Diamond.. Finally it may be concluded that out of the eightpotato varieties, Lady Rosette would be the best variety to be grown under litchi based Agroforestry systems considering the additional returns as per investment in terms of money and time.