Evaluation of foliar application of zinc at different doses on potato (<i>Solanum tuberosum</i> L.) growth, yield, and economic feasibility in Dolpa of Nepal

Prajina Neupane; Sandesh Bhatta; Arjun Kafle; Madhusudhan Adhikari; Prajina Neupane; Sandesh Bhatta; Arjun Kafle; Madhusudhan Adhikari

doi:10.48130/tihort-0025-0006

Figures (4) Tables (3)

Figure 1.
Categorical tuber number per square meter as influenced by different concentrations of Zn-EDTA at Dunai, Dolpa, Nepal, 2022. Different alphabets in lowercase indicate significant treatment mean difference at p ≤ 0.05. *, ** and *** indicate significant results at 5%, 1% and 0.1% levels of significance respectively.
Figure 2.
Categorical tuber weight of potato per square meter as influenced by different concentrations of Zn-EDTA at Dunai, Dolpa, Nepal, 2022. Different alphabets in lowercase indicate significant treatment mean difference at p ≤ 0.05. *, ** and *** indicate significant results at 5%, 1% and 0.1% levels of significance respectively.
Figure 3.
Total tuber number based on marketability as influenced by different concentrations of Zn-EDTA at Dunai, Dolpa, Nepal, 2022. Different alphabets in lowercase indicate significant treatment mean difference at p ≤ 0.05. *, ** and *** indicate significant results at 5%, 1% and 0.1% levels of significance respectively.
Figure 4.
Total tuber weight based on marketability as influenced by different concentrations of Zn-EDTA at Dunai, Dolpa, Nepal, 2022. Different alphabets in lowercase indicate significant treatment mean difference at p ≤ 0.05. *, ** and *** indicate significant results at 5%, 1% and 0.1% levels of significance respectively.

Treatments (ppm)	Plant height (cm)		Stem diameter (cm)		Leaf number		Canopy diameter (cm)
Treatments (ppm)	75 DAP	95 DAP	75 DAP	95 DAP	75 DAP	95 DAP	75 DAP	95 DAP
Control	19.6^d#	41.8^c	1.2^d	1.3^d	24.0^c	37.0^d	36.9^c	53.7^e
SS-50	22.3^cd	43.4^c	1.2^d	1.3^d	26.0^bc	45.0^cd	41.4^bc	56.2^de
SS-100	23.8^bc	44.0^c	1.3^cd	1.4^cd	26.0^bc	45.0^cd	41.4^bc	60.1^cd
SS-150	24.1^bc	46.1^bc	1.3^bc	1.5^bc	26.0^bc	49.0^bc	48.0^ab	62.5^cd
DS-50	24.2^bc	52.5^ab	1.3^bc	1.5^ab	30.0^ab	55.0^ab	50.0^a	66.2^bc
DS-100	27.0^ab	54.0^a	1.4^ab	1.6^ab	33.0^a	58.0^ab	52.3^a	69.0^ab
DS-150	27.8^a	58.3^a	1.5^a	1.6^a	34.0^a	63.0^a	54.2^a	72.9^a
p-value	**	**	***	***	**	***	**	***
# Means followed by a different letter(s) within a column are significantly different from each other at p ≤ 0.05. DAP indicates days after planting. , , and ** indicate significant results at 5%, 1%, and 0.1% levels of significance respectively.

Table 1.

Effect of different concentrations of foliar application of Zn-EDTA in potato height, stem diameter, leaf number, and canopy diameter at 75 and 95 DAP in potatoes in Dolpa, Nepal in 2022.

Treatments (ppm)	Tuber diameter	Tuber number per square meter	Individual tuber weight (g)	Tuber yield (t·ha⁻¹)
Control	1.11^d#	35.0^d	58.1^a	19.26^c
SS-50	1.17^cd	40.0^c	47.5^a	21.19^c
SS-100	1.20^cd	42.7^bc	61.6^a	22.46^bc
SS-150	1.26^bc	43.3^bc	53.6^a	23.47^bc
DS-50	1.34^ab	45.0^b	48.8^a	26.70^ab
DS-100	1.40^ab	49.7^a	51.3^a	28.09^a
DS-150	1.44^a	51.0^a	69.6^a	29.99^a
p-value	***	***	NS	**
# Means followed by a different letter(s) within a column are significantly different from each other at p ≤ 0.05. DAP indicates days after planting. , , and ** indicate significant results at 5%, 1%, and 0.1% levels of significance respectively. NS, not significant.

Table 2.

Yield and yield attributes of potato as influenced by different concentrations of Zn-EDTA in Dolpa, Nepal in 2022.

Treatments (ppm)	Cost of cultivation (USD${\$} $)	Gross income (USD${\$} $)	Net income (USD${\$} $)	BC ratio
Control	1,654.76	7,237.17^c#	5,582.40^c	3.50^c
SS-50	1,660.40	7,965.02^c	6,304.62^c	3.83^c
SS-100	1,666.04	8,442.32^bc	6,776.28^bc	4.05^bc
SS-150	1,671.67	8,819.40^bc	7,147.72^bc	4.22^bc
DS-50	1,666.04	1,0034.57^ab	8,368.53^ab	4.81^ab
DS-100	1,677.31	1,0556.97^a	8,879.66^a	5.03^a
DS-150	1,688.59	11,272.29^a	9,583.70^a	5.34^a
p-value		**	**	**
# Means followed by different letter(s) within a column are significantly different from each other at p ≤ 0.05. DAP indicates Days after planting. , , and ** indicate significant results at 5%, 1%, and 0.1% levels of significance respectively.

Table 3.

Economic analysis of potato production (USD${\$} $·ha⁻¹) as influenced by different concentrations of Zn-EDTA in Dolpa, Nepal, 2022.