Potato most important and economical food crop of the world, referred as Poor man friend. Its origin is in South America. It is rich source of starch and vitamin. It is used as vegetable also used for making of chips. It is used for several industrial purposes for production of starch and alcohol. Potato is grown almost in all states. Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Punjab, Karnataka, Assam and Madhya Pradesh are major potato growing states. 

It can grow on wide range of soil, ranging from sandy loam, silt loam, loam and clay soils. It gives best yield when grown under well drained sandy loam and medium loam soils with rich in organic content. They can grow in acidic soil. It cannot grow under waterlogged soil also saline, alkaline soils are not suitable for potato cultivation.

Early maturing varieties:

Kufri alankar: Released in 1968. It has white flesh and eyes are medium deep. It is suitable for sowing in northern India.

Kufri Bahar: Plants are tall with thick stem, 4-5 stem per plant. Tubers are of large, white, round to oval shape and flesh is of white color. It mature in 90-100 days and gives yield of 100-120quintal/acre. Its keeping quality is average. It is resistant to late blight, early blight and leaf roll etc.

Kufri Chandramukhi: It is an early maturing variety and is suitable for sowing in ground areas to mountainous areas. The variety gets ready in 110-130 days. It has medium height plant, early maturing and flowers are light pink in color. Tubers are of large oval shape which are slightly flattened and having dull white color flesh. It gives an average yield of 100-110qtl/acre.

Kufri Jyoti: It is a medium season variety which gets ready in 130-150 days. It has long, straight, early growers and medium size variety. It bears white color flowers. The variety is resistant to wilting. It is a high yielding variety. It gives an average yield of 60-70quintal/acre.

Kufri Lauvkar: Released in 1972. It is suitable for growing both in Rabi and Kharif season.

Medium maturing varieties:

Kufri Badshah: Plants are tall with 4-5 stems per plant. Tubers are of large to medium, oval shape with dull white flesh. Tubers are tasty with good flavor. It matures in 90-120 days and gives an average yield of 100-120qtl/acre. It is tolerant to frost, resistant to late blight, early blight.

Kufri Chamatkar: Plants are medium and spreading with dark green foliage and more stems. It matures in 110-120 days in plains whereas 150 days in hills. It has white color flowers.

Kufri Lalima: Suitable for Bihar and Uttar Pradesh states. It has medium round shape tuber and peel is red-pink in color. The variety matures in 100-110 days.

Kufri Muthu: It is medium maturing variety which has extra-large tubers and is round in shape. Eyes are medium deep. Flesh and peel both are white in color. Released in 1977 and is suitable for sowing in hilly areas of Nilgiri.

Kufri Sheet maan: Released in 1968 which is resistant to drought and cold temperature.

Kufri Sherpa: It has medium sized potatoes, round and flat in shape. It has white color peel and flesh is yellow in color. It is released in 1983 mainly for north-eastern region and for Bengal hilly areas.

Kufri Swarna: It is medium maturing variety which has medium sized potatoes which are round and egg shaped. The variety is released in 1985 and is suitable for sowing in Nilgiri hilly areas of Tamil Nadu.

Late maturing variety:

Kufri Sindhuri: Suitable for Karnataka, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab. It has medium round shape tubers having deep red eyes. The variety is moderately resistant to early blight and tolerant to Potato Leaf Roll Virus (PLRV) and late blight disease. It gets mature in 120-130 days and gives an average yield of 140-160quintal/acre.  

Kufri Kisan: The variety is suitable for sowing in plain areas of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Punjab. The variety matures in 115-125 days and it gives an average yield of 100-120qtl/acre.

Kufri Kundan: The variety is suitable for growing in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.

Kufri Jeevan: It has egg shaped potatoes. It has white peel and flesh is light yellow in color. The variety is released in 1868 which is suitable for Himachal Pradesh.

Ploughing land at depth of 30 cm and prepared bed for sowing. For Ploughing land use mould board plough or Disc harrow. Then take one or two tilling with desi plough or tiller. Level soil by planking operation after each tillage operation. Maintain sufficient moisture in soil before sowing. For planting, two methods are widely used, 1) Ridge and furrow method 2) Flat Bed method. 

Time of sowing
For early crop varieties, sowing should be done in Mid-September and for timely sown varieties, sowing is done in Mid-October.

Seed Rate
Use large size tubers for planting. Use seed rate of 8-10 quintal/acre for sowing. Seed rate depends upon the size of the tubers.

Fertilizer Requirement (kg/acre)

Nutrient Requirement (kg/acre)

Apply 10 ton/acre of Farm Yard Manure or well decomposed Cow Dung at time of land preparation two weeks before planting. For optimum growth, it requires, Nitrogen@20kg per acre in form of Urea@45kg/acre, Phosphorus@3kg/acre in form of SSP@20kg/acre and Potash@93kg/acre in form of MOP@55 kg/acre.

Apply 3/4th of Nitrogen fertilizer and whole dose of Phosphorus and Potash at time of sowing. Remaining 1/4th dose of Nitrogen should be applied after 25-30 days after planting at time of earthing up operation.  

If pre-sowing irrigation is given, then apply first irrigation within 10-12 days after sowing. Provide second irrigation seven days after first irrigation. Apply remaining irrigations, depending upon climatic conditions and need. Tuber formation is very important stage for irrigation. Avoid water stress at this stage. Avoid flood irrigation as it will cause rot disease. Stop irrigation 10-12 days before harvesting.

Apply Metribuzine 70WP@200gm per acre or Alachlor@2Ltr per Acre before sprouts emergence. On 5-10% sprout emergence and ridge are infested with weeds then only apply Paraquat@500-750ml per acre. Remove weeds with hand in case of low infestation 25days after planting in plain areas and 40-45days in hilly areas when crop attained height of 8-10cm. Usually weedicide in potato plant are not required as earthing up operation destroyed almost all weeds.

• Pest and their control:

Cut worms: They damage crop by cutting sprout at ground level. They feed at night so control becomes difficult.

Leaf eating Caterpillar: They feed on potato leaves and thus damage the crop.

Epilanchna Beetle: Larva and adults damages crop by feeding on leaves.

White Grub: They remain in soil and damage crop by feeding on roots, stem and tubers. Infected plant show drying up. Grubs make holes in tubers.

• Disease and their control:

Black scurf: Black speck observed on tubers. Affected plant show drying up. In infected tubers, at time of sprouting, black, brown color appear on eyes.

Late Blight: Infestation is observed on lower part of leaves and tip of leaves. Irregular water spots are seen on infected leaves. Around the spot white powdery growth is observed. In severe condition, white powdery growth is seen on nearby soil surface of infected plants. This disease is rapidly spread in cloudy weather and after rains. If not controlled, it can cause loss up to 50%.

Common scab: It survives in field as well as in storage. Disease is spread rapidly in low moisture condition. Light brown to dark brown lesion are appeared on infected tubers.

Bacterial soft rot: At base of plant black leg appears along with browning of infected tubers also plant give yellow appearance. In severe condition plant wilt and get died. On infected tubers soft, reddish spot appear on infected tubers.

Mosaic: Mosaic affected plants give faint yellow appearance along with stunted growth. Size and number of tuber get reduced.

Dehaulming: It is necessary to get virus free seed also it increases size and number of tubers. Dehaulming means cutting of foliage close to ground at fix timing or date. Its timing is varying according to region and also on aphid population. In north it is carried out in last week of December.

Do sorting of tubers and remove cut, injured tubers. After sorting grading is done depending upon diameter or size of tubers. Over size tuber are having great demand as they are useful for chips making. Store potato at temperature of 4° to 7°C and relative humidity.