Response of Potato Crops Grown to Cover Crop Population and Tuber Promoting Substances

Abstract

Growing potato crops at low elevation may face problem related to high temperature, resulting in less number and smaller size of tuber. Reducing soil temperature with cover crop and spraying the potato crops with tuber promoting substance (TPS) are expected to promote tuberization. The objectives of this experiment were to evaluate the effect of cover crop population, application of TPS, and their interaction on the growth and yield of potato crops. Completely randomized design (CRD) arranged in factorial was used in this experiment. The first factor was with or without TPS. The second factor was the population of amaranth cover crop (0, 8, 16, 24, 32 plant.polybag^-1). Potato seeds were planted in the polybag, filled with 10 kg of strile media, a mix of cow manure, husk charcoal, topsoil (1:1:4, v/v/v/). The potato and amaranth seeds were planted at the same time. The crops were sprayed with TPS at 3, 4,5, and 6 weeks after planting. Variable measured included plant height, tiller number, leaf number, shot fresh and dry weight, stolon number, tuber number per hill, tuber diameter, tuber weight, and tuber volume. Therefore application and planting of spinach is necessary to induce the formation of potato tubers.  Apart from that, further research needs to be carried out to test the effect of spinach planting time on reducing soil temperature and the formation of potato tubers