Performance of heat tolerant clones of potato in tropical coastal region of India

Abstract

Potato is a cool weather crop, with temperature being the main limiting factor on production; however it grows under a diverse range of climatic conditions. The vegetative growth of the plant is best at a temperature of 24°C while tuber development is favoured at 18°C. Hence, potato is grown as a summer crop in the hills and as a winter crop in the tropical and subtropical regions. To extend this crop in tropical regions of our country heat tolerant advanced clones of promising crosses developed at ICAR-CPRI, were evaluated/screened during 2016-17 in tropical coastal soils at ICAR-CTCRI, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. Five advanced hybrids and two released heat tolerant varieties from ICAR-CPRI were evaluated at ICAR-CTCRI, during 2016-17 in Rabi planting season. Higher total tuber yield was obtained in the advanced hybrids HT/7-1329 (28 tha-1), HT/10-2002 (25 tha-1) as compared to heat tolerant variety Kufri Surya (20 tha-1). Selected genotypes had acceptable texture and taste without bitterness due to alkaloids in organoleptic test conducted after harvest. The taste and crispiness of fried chips was also good for HT/10-2002 followed by HT/7-1329, compared to Kufri Surya.