Effect of foliar application of plant growth regulators on potato tubers quality

The present investigation was conducted at research farm of Central Potato Research Institute Campus, Modipuram, Meerut (UP) during 2008 and 2009 to find out the foliar effect of two growth promoters gibberellic acid (GA3) and indole aetic acid (IAA) and growth retardant paclobutrazol (PBZ) either alone or in combination on tuber quality attributes of potato variety Kufri Pukhraj. Many tuber quality parameters like dry matter content, specific gravity, tuber shape index, peel flesh ratio and sugar content were affected significantly by treatment with plant growth promoters GA3 (50 ppm and IAA 50 ppm during both the year, applied at 35 DAP in combination with growth retardant (PBZ 25 ppm) applied at 70 DAP in Indo – gangetic plains. The proportion of marketable yield also was highest 9.16% by application of GA3 50 ppm at 35 DAP and PBZ 25 ppm followed by treatment GA3 50 ppm at 35 DAP and PBZ 50 ppm applied at 70 DAP having an improvement of 6.74%. Therefore, these treatments may be exploited to enhance the crop growth as well as tuber quality without compromising tuber shape in this region.