Performance Evaluation of Nutrient Dense Potato Genotypes at High Hills of Karnali Province, Nepal

The trial was carried out to identify suitable potato genotypes for high hills of Karnali province of Nepal. The genotypes were received from International Potato Centre (CIP), Lima, Peru through National Potato Research Program (NPRP) and evaluated for two consecutive years 2017 and 2018 at Horticulture Research Station (HRS), Rajikot, Jumla, Nepal (2396 masl). Nine nutrient dense potato genotypes with two checks i.e. Desiree and Jumli Local in on-station trial were tested in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Fertilizer was used at the rate of 100:100:60 kg NPK/ha and 20 t/ha compost. Well sprouted tubers of seed size (25-50 g) were planted at a spacing of 60cm x 25cm. The effects of different genotypes were recorded for both vegetative as well as yield parameters. There is a significant difference among tested genotypes for vegetative (emergence percentage at 30 days after planting & 45 days after planting, uniformity, ground coverage, plant height, number of main stems) as well as yield parameters (total number of tubers and tuber yield per ha). The highest tuber yield (46.93 t/ha) was recorded from genotype T 304351.109 followed by genotype T 304368.46 (41.46 t/ha) and genotype T 302498.7 (32.69 t/ha) among the nutrient dense potato genotypes. Similarly, late blight scoring was minimum (score 1) in all these three genotypes. The results of both years showed that potato genotypes T 304351.109, T 304368.46 and T 302498.7 are promising for cultivation in high hills of Karnali province to combat the malnutrition as well as ensure nutritional security.