Growth and Yield of Potato Cultivars

Concentration of CO in the atmosphere is likely to increase up to 550 µmol mol by the middle of 2 1 21 century. Such an increase in the atmospheric CO may effect plant growth and productivity of crop plants. st 2 A field experiment was conducted with two potato cultivars namely Kufri Surya and Kufri Chipsona-3 grown inside Open Top Chambers (OTCs) at ambient (385±30 µmol mol ) and elevated CO (570±50 µmol mol ), 11 2 during rabi season of the year 2009-2010. The experiment was planned in a randomized complete block design under factorial arrangement with three replications. The photosynthetic rate significantly increased in both the cultivars under high CO and enhancement was greater in K. Chipsona-3 than K. Surya. There was increased 2 accumulation of reducing, non-reducing and total sugars in the leaves of both the cultivars due to CO2 enrichment. Crop growth rate (CGR) and tuber growth rate (TGR) in both cultivars was higher in plants grown under elevated CO compared with ambient. High CO increased more partitioning of dry matter towards the 22 tubers at all harvesting stages. Potato plants grown under elevated CO exhibited increased tuber yield due to 2 enhanced number of tubers per plant. At the final harvest, total tuber fresh weight was 36% greater under high CO treatments compared to ambient. Among the two cultivars the response of K. Chipsona-3 was better to 2 increased CO concentration compared with K. Surya. The study concludes that rising atmospheric CO in future 22 climate change scenario may be beneficial for tuber crops like potato to enhance growth as well as tuber yield.