Planting

• Whole potato tuber or cut pieces (50-60 g size) longitudinally cut from bud-end to stem end can be used for plating.
• For planting 1 ha, 1000-2000 kg seed tubers are required.
• Seed tubers are treated with 1 ppm of GA 3 for one hour and then dried in shade for getting uniform sprouting.
• Tubers are filled in gunny bags after drying and kept in vertical position in well-ventilated dark room for 10 days for encouraging sprouting.
• Seed pieces should be treated with mancozeb (@ 1 kg in 450 litres of water) before planting to protect them from soil borne diseases.
• Tubers can be planted on ridges 50-60 cm wide at a spacing of 15-20 cm between the plants.

True Potato Seed (TPS)

• TPS is used to address issues like seed tuber shortages, high costs, transportation difficulties, and virus infections.
• TPS is a botanical seed developed in the berry of the plant through fertilization.
• Only 100 g of TPS is needed per hectare compared to 2.5 t/ha seed tubers, reducing cultivation costs.
• Potato crop from TPS can be raised using seedling transplants or seedling tubers from the previous season.
• In the transplant method, TPS seedlings from nursery beds are transplanted into the field for maturity.
• In the seedling tuber method, TPS seedlings grow in nursery beds to produce seedling tubers, which are then used for the next season's crop.