Abstract

Author:
Rebant Bahadur Jhukal, Anil Dahal

Doi: 10.26480/trab.01.2024.34.39

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

From February to June 2022, a field experiment was carried out in Panchthar, Nepal, with the aim of determining the productivity and growth of potato types with and without plastic mulch. In both plastic- mulch and no-mulch environments, four potato varieties—Janakdev, Baijani, Betaay, and Jhyalay—were assessed. With three replications, the treatments were set up in a two-factorial randomized complete block design (RCBD). The experiment’s conclusion showed that plastic mulch and Jhyalay produced higher plant growth. This might be due to better aeration and optimum soil temperature in the root zone of plants, better soil water retention through plastic mulch that increases effective rainfall, and available soil moisture for plant growth. Moreover, the highest tuber yield was observed in Betaay (28.13 t ha-1), followed by Janakdev and Jhyalay. The higher tuber yield in Betaay was due to the higher tuber yield per plot. Similarly, higher yields in plastic mulch were due to the increased number and weight of tubers per plot. The cultivar Betaay had the highest yield, gross return, net return, and B:C ratio; Jhyalay followed next. Hence, Betaay and Jhyalay were the most suitable varieties of potato for Panchthar-like climates for improving productivity and profitability. Despite the fact that plastic mulch produced a larger yield, its net return and B:C ratio were statistically lower than those of no mulch. The reason for this could be the high production costs.