POTATO

Introduction
Potato is most widely grown vegetable crop in the country with a share of 25.7 per cent. The area under potato cultivation is 1.4Million ha with total production of 25 MT. The main varieties of potato grown in the country are Kufri Chandramukhi, Kufri Jyoti, Kufri Badshah, Kufri Himalani, Kufri Sindhuri, Kufri Lalima etc.
Uttar Pradesh is the leading potato growing state in the country followed by West Bengal and Bihar. In Karnataka potato is considered as a important commercial crop in uttar Karnataka region It is widely cultivated in Belgaum and Dharwad districts. The area under potatoe cultivation in these areas is around 20,000 Ha.
Classification
Potato is the most useful and important member of the family Solonaceae and it belongs to genus Solanum which consists of 7 cultivated and about 154 wild species but the commercially viable potato has only 2 species.
Solanum Andigenum
The plants of the species are characterized with thin and long stems, small and narrow leaflets having profuse flowering and long stolons. It is not very common.
The tubers are mostly covered with deep sunken eyes on them. The yielding potential is very low and, therefore, it is not grown on large scale.
Solanum Tuberosum
It is more common plants have shorter and thicker stem, larger and wider leaflets. In addition to the above-mentioned species Solanum Lemissum and Solanum Stenotonum are also of some importance as they are resistant to some form of virus and diseases, but they are also not being cultivating commercially.
Crop Rotations And Intercropping
Potato is grown in rotation with other crops, usually to maintain desirable soils texture and state of fertility
To build up organic matter
To reduce crop loss from insect and plant disease
To increase per unit productivity per unit area and time
To improve the quality of produce
Potato, being a fast growing crop, fits well in different rotations and inters cropping systems. It can very successfully be grown in the following sequences.
Maize – Potato – Wheat
Paddy – Potato – Wheat
GM - Potato - Wheat
For successful cultivation of these rotations, the following time schedule needs to be considered.
Maize and paddy sowing should be done in early June
Grow short duration early maturing varieties
Grow potato in October
Prefer late sown varieties of wheat viz. PBW373, PBW138, Raj 3765 in the end of December and early January
Green manuring is done during rainy season
Green manure should be ploughed in the field at least 15 days before potato planting
Green manure improves the soil fertility
The potato crop is also grown in different inter-cropping such as
Sugarcane + Potato
Maize + Potato