REVIEW ON THE EFFECT OF PLANTING DENSITY AND SEED TUBER SIZE ON YIELD AND YIELD COMPONENTS OF POTATO (SOLANUM TUBEROSUM L.)

Abstract

Potato is a perennial crop which belongs to Solanum tuberosum L family. The word "potato" may refer either to the plant itself or the edible tuber. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L. ) in terms of quantity produced and consumed world wide, potato is the most important vegetable crop .It is one of the most widely grown among root and tuber crops in Ethiopia and stands second next to enset in area coverage. In Ethiopia potato is grown in four major areas such as the central, eastern, northern and southern parts of the country and these areas together cover approximately 83% of the potato farmers. Both planting density and seed tuber size affect potatoes growth, yield and quality in different ways. Proper management should take to maximaze yield and quality of potato crop. The density of potatoes crop traditionally expressed as the number of plant per unit area.The plant density affects both the total yield and the tuber size. The exact number of plants per hectare is determined by variety, seed size, seed age, soil type and the end use of the crop. Larger seeds produce more stems, and well-sprouted tubers produce more stems than seed that is too young or too old. One of the main concerns about potato production is lack of information on specific management practices. Among the management practices, intra row spacing and time of earthling up are critical to improve tuber yield and quality. Generally, the objective of this paper is to evaluate the effect of seed tuber size and planting density on the yield and yield components of potatoes.