POTATO

Scientific Name
:
Solanum tuberosum L.
Family : Solanaceae
Centre of
Origin :
South America

Introduction:

Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is an important food crop of the world. It is used as
vegetable, stock feed and in industries for manufacturing starch, alcoholic beverages and
other processed products.

Potato, an important temperate crop, has been adopted well for cultivation under sub
tropical conditions. The tuber bearing Solanum occur naturally over a wide area in South
and Central America arranging in distribution from 30O N to 145O S latitude. The two main
centers of diversity of the group are: i. The high lands of Central Mexico and ii. The Andes
of southern Peru, Bulivia and Noerth-Western Argentina. The cultivated potato Solanum
tuberosum, originated around lake Titiccaca in Bolivia and in Southern Chile through
chromosome doubling of diploid species, S. Stenotomum or its hybrid with another closely
related species, which is unknown.

The potato plant was selected as an article of food by Mayas, Incas and Red Indians in
South and Central America. Potato was introduced in Europe by navigators in later part of
the 16th century and it reached India in the 17th century. Potato was earlier thought to be
confined mainly to the developed nations. In fact, the concentration of potato production is
shifting from Europe to Asia and other parts of the developing world at an outstanding
pace. In 1961, potatoes, produced in developing countries accounted for about 11% of the
global output. Developing countries today produce around 37% of the worlds potatoes. No
other major food crop has experienced such a shift in the location of production over this
period. This spectacular growth in developing countries affirms its increasing importance as
a source of food for growing populations, rural employment and income. In order of
importance for food production, potato rank, 6th in the developing countries, 4th in the
developed countries, 4th in all world and 3rd in India. The total potato production in India
is about 25 million tons from about 1.3 million lectures. More than 80% of this produce is
used for ware purposes and almost 90% of the rest of produce is used as seed potatoes
mainly to meet the domestic market. Potato accounts for about 0.65% of the total cropped
area of the country. It is grown in India in almost all the states and under very diverse
conditions. Nearly 80% of potatoes are grown in vast Indo-Gangetic plains of north India
during short winter days from October to March. About 8% area under potato cultivation
lies in the hills where the crop is grown during long summer days of April to October.
Plateau regions of south-Eastern, control and peninsular India, constitute about 6% area
where potatoes are grown as a rainfed Kharif crop during the rainy season (July to
October) or as irrigated rabi crop during winter (November to March). In a small area of
about 4000 ha covering mainly the Nilgiri and Palni hills of Tamil Nadu, the crop is grown
round the year both as irrigated and rainfed crop. The states of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal
and Bihar account for nearly 73% of the area under the crop in India and 80% of the total
production.

Potato is also an important crop in the North Eastern region of India comprising the states
of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura and
Sikkim. NEH region covers almost 9% of the area of the country and about 4.5% of its
population. The analysis of potato production figures for various states show that though

the North Eastern Region has about 9.3% area, they account for only about 4.3% of the
production, which is lowest for any regional grouping. The low production is the result of
various biotic and abiotic factors such as lack of quality seeds of suitable varieties, growing
of crops under rainfed situation, non adoption of recommended package of practices by
growers, lack of infrastructural facilities like cold storage and prevalence of puts and
diseases etc. The state of Assam has the maximum area (approx. 77,000ha) and
production (approx. 6,20,000 tonnes) under potato crop within the North East. The highest
productivity of this crop in the NEH region is in Tripura where in it is grown in an area of
5.4 thousand ha with the productivity of 19.68 tonnes per ha.

The lowest productivity of about 4.16 tonnes per ha is observed in Sikkim. In Sikkim,
potato is mainly grown for seed. About 90% of the total produce goes for seed purpose.
Sikkim potato is famous for seed. Unlike seed potato grown in Himachal Pradesh, which is
a main source of hills seed potato, a considerable significance is attached to Sikkim seed
potatoes. This is because of the fact that Himachal seed potato cannot be used as seed in
the plains in the same year and can be used only in the plains in the same year and can be
used only in the following season. In Himachal Pradesh, seed potato is harvested in
October-November and potato needs at least 60 days to break dormancy and hence the
potato sowing time in the plains is over. Whereas, the seed potatoes of Sikkim is harvested
in August-September and reaches to the plains by November and by that time the
dormancy period is also over and can be planted in the same season itself. The most
important seed potato growing blocks of Sikkim are Ribdi, Bhareng, Okhray, Thembong,
Tikpur, Buriakhop, Snakhu, Bega, Manebong, Sopakha and Yoksum in west district, Zaluk,
Phademchen, Gnathang and Tokche in the East district, Ravangla and Damthang in the
South District and Dechung, Thangu and Lachen in the North district.

Potato is a highly nutritious food. It provides carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, Vitamin C,
a number of B group vitamins and high quality dietary fiber Potatoes yield about 97 Kilo
calories per 100 gm fresh weight, which is much less than cereals. The net protein
utilization or biological value of potato protein (about 71% that of whole egg), is better
than that of wheat (53%), maize (54%), peas (48%), beans (46%) and is comparable to
cows milk (75%).

Nutritive value of potato (per 100 gm edible portion)
Nutrients Content
Edible portion 85%
Moisture 74.70 gm
Protein 1.60 gm
Fat 0.10 gm
Minerals 0.60 gm
Carbohydrates 22.60 gm
Energy 97.00 kcal
Calcium 10.00 mg
Phosphorus 40.00 mg
Iron 0.70 mg
Carotene 24.00 mg
Thiamine 0.10 mg
Riboflavin 0.01 mg
Niacin 1.20 mg
Vitamin C 17.0 mg

Botany:

Potato belongs to genus Solanum in the family Solanaccae. The commercial cultivated
potato is botanically known as Solanum tuberosum L. Potato is an annual herbaceous
plant, mainly reproduced vegtatively by means of tubers and sometimes by botanical seeds
i.e. True Potato seeds. The tubers are underground stems and from than new shoots are
produced. The stem is erect in the early stage by becomes spreading and prostrate later
on. The leaves are compound and alternate, irregularly odd pinnate. Buds formed in the
axile of the leaves produce rhizomes which elongate rapidly and develop tubers at their
extremities. The tuber is morphologically a flesh stem bearing buds and eyes in the axile of
small scale like leaves. The potato flower contains 5 sepals, 5 petals and a two called ovary
with a single style and bi-lobed stigma. The inflorescence is cymose. The petals are tubular
and united. The stems are alternate and attached to the corolla tube. The seeds are
produced in a berry flowers are self-pollinated but also cross pollination take place by wind
or insect.

I. Potato growing zones:
North India Hills: This zone covers hills of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir,
Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and
Tripura. This zone is further subdivided into two zones.
North western and Central Himalayas: this zone covers the hills of Himachal
Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh.
North Eastern Hills: This zone comprises hills of Meghalayas, Manipur, Tripura,
Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. 2. North Indian Plains: More than 80%
of potato is cultivated in this zone. The crop is grown under short day conditions
and suffers from mid day water stress. This zone is further divided into three sub-
zones.
North Western Plains: It covers Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and parts of
neighboring states.
North central Plains: It consists of western Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
North Eastern Plains: This zone consists of plains of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West
Bengal, Assam and Orissa.
Special Problem areas: The special problem areas are faced with specific problems
of potato cultivation not known in other parts of the country. These areas are:
Sikkim and North Bengal Hills: The area comprises of Sikkim and Darjeeling Hills of
West Bengal. Wart caused by Synchytrium endobioticum is a special problem in
this area.
Plateau region: It covers vast areas of central and peninsular India. This zone
consists of parts of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Orissa.
Red sandy or fine textured block cotton soils characterize this area. Black soils
develop cracks on drying which exposr the tubers to potato tuber moth (PTM) and
greening in sunlight.
South Indian Hills: This zone comprise of the Southern hill zone in Tamil Nadu.
Infestation by cyst nematodes (Globodera rostochiensis and G. pallida) is a special
problem of the area.
The potato crop thrives up to snow line. The hill areas because of almost virus free
environment offer good scope for seed potato industry. Himachal Pradesh, U.P, hills and
Sikkim provide the bulk of the Hill seed potato for the plains of India.

More than 80% potato in India is grown in sub-tropical during winter which differs than
those prevalent in potato season of temperate countries.

Agro-climatic peculiarities of growing potatoes in sub-tropics.
Agro-climatic
parameters
Sub-tropical
countries
Temperate
countries
Growing season Winter Summer
Temperature
during Planting
and harvesting
High (planting:
25-30OC;
harvesting: 10-
20OC)
Low (15-25OC at
both)
Crop duration 90-100 days 150-180 days
Photoperiod
during growth
10.3 hours/day 14 hours/day
Mid day water
stress
Prominent Absent
Day/Night
temperatures
25-30OC/4-15OC 25O C/15OC
Frosting Common Absent
Result
Low yields, less
dry matter and
more reducing
sugars
High yield, high
dry matter and low
reducing sugars.