Influence of Crop Diversification in Potato-Based Cropping Sequence on Growth, Productivity and Economics of Potato in Red and Lateritic Soil of West Bengal Kumar Basant, Barik Arun Kumar*, Saha Biswajit, Patel Nirmala, Fatima Ayesha1 Department of Agronomy, Institute of Agriculture (Palli Siksha Bhavana), Visva-Bharati, Sriniketan, Birbhum-731 236, India 1Dr. Kalam Agricultural College, Kishanganj-855 107, India *E-mail: arunkumar.barik@visva-bharati.ac.in
Online Published on 20 February, 2024. Abstract Field experiment was conducted at Agricultural farm of the Institute during 2020-21 and 2021-22 to study growth, yield attributes, yield and economics of potato as influenced by potato-based cropping sequences. The experiment, consisted of seven treatments (viz. Potato-sesame; Potato-green gram; Potato-baby corn; Potato-okra; Potato-groundnut; Potato-blackgram and Potato–vegetable cowpea. Potato in potato-groundnut sequence exhibited highest growth, yield attributes (number of tubers hill-1 and fresh weight of tubers hill-1) with tuber and haulm yield of 23.95 and 1.30 t ha-1, respectively. Highest gross return, net return and return per rupee investment in potato was also achieved from potato-groundnut sequence ( 264 × 103 ha-1, 174 × 103 ha-1 and 2.91, respectively). These were at par with potato in potato-vegetable cowpea, potato-blackgram and potato–green gram sequences and significantly higher than potato in potato-sesame, potato-baby corn and potato-okra cropping sequences. Inclusion of legume crops in potato-based cropping sequences enhanced tuber and haulm yield of potato resulting in higher return from the sequence. Top Keywords Cropping sequence, Economics, Growth, Potato and yield. Top |