Field Evaluation of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Formulations on Production Performance of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cv. Kufri Sindhuri

Abstract

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal symbiosis has notable impact on sustainable growth and development of various plants as they provide assistance to acclimatize with the biotic and abiotic conditions. In this concern, a field experiment was conducted during Rabi season of 2015-16 at Vegetable Research Farm, Department of Horticulture, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi in order to evaluate the effect of various mycorrhizal products at different concentrations on growth and yield parameters of potato. The field experiment consisted of 13 treatments involving different mycorrhizal products including Untreated (Control). The treatment T11 - NZBBA9050 @ 250 g/ha showed very promising result for almost all the characters under investigation viz., plant stand count at 30 DAP (92%), plant stand count at 60 DAP (90%), Plant height at 30 DAP (68.93 cm), Plant height at 60 DAP (112.00 cm), root length (32.63 cm), number of haulms/plant (5.33), number of tubers/plant (16.87), weight of tubers/plant (524.00 g), length of tuber (6.28 cm), width of tuber (4.80 cm), tubers yield/plot (24.67 kg) and tuber yield (27411.11 kg/ha) as compared to other treatments followed by T8 - NZBBA9049 @ 250 g/ha, T2 - Soil drench with Bolt SP @ 250 g/ha and T5 - NZBBA9048 @ 250 g/ha in potato. At much higher concentration, the mycorrhizal products imposed adverse effect on all the growth and yield parameters. As a conclusion, it can be stated that mycorrhiza can perform the role of a remarkable supplement for increasing growth and yield of potato along with commonly used fertilizers.