Effect of pre-sowing treatment of chemicals on sprouting of newly harvested potato at Kavre, Nepal

Abstract

The experiment was carried out to study the effect of different chemical treatments on the sprouting of newly harvested potato tuber at Banepa, Kavrepalanchowk, Nepal. The experiment was carried out in CRD (Completely Randomized Design) in a room with seven treatments and four replications. Janakdev variety of potato was treated with seven different treatments i.e., control, cytokinin (2ml/lit, 3ml/lit), hydrogen peroxide (20mM, 40mM), and gibberellic acid (40 ppm, 50ppm). The research was conducted from March to June 2022. Different chemicals with different concentrations were used in this experiment. Tubers were soaked in treatment solution for 2 hours, allowed to dry in shade, and kept in a dark room on plastic trays. The dormancy breakage, first emergence of sprout, number of sprouts per tuber, and sprout length per tuber were recorded and analysed. Among the different chemical treatments used in the experiment, gibberellic acid 50 ppm showed the first emergence of sprout at 13.38 days compared to the control (28.28). It has decreased the dormancy period by 31.96 days compared to the control. Also, 50 ppm gibberellic acid showed the highest number of sprouts per tuber and sprout length per tuber in comparison to other treatments followed by 40 ppm gibberellic acid. In the overall result, it is found that an increase in the concentration of different treatments increases the sprout’s number and decreased the dormancy period. However, an increase in concentration increases the sprout length in GA3 but decreases the sprout length in cytokinin and hydrogen peroxide.