tuhin suvra roy

Purpose :

Bangladesh is an agriculture-based country, where about 3 million ha is covered by groundwater sources for irrigation, but a significant portion of irrigation water is Arsenic contaminated. To produce Potato under Arsenic contaminated soil, an experiment was conducted to find out the effect of sawdust as an adsorbent to decontaminate Arsenic toxicity in soil.

Method :

The research was conducted in pot experiment. It consisted of two factors. Factor A: Arsenic levels (4) viz., As0: control (0 mg/kgsoil), As1: 25 mg/kg soil, As2: 50 mg/kg soil, and As3: 75 mg/kg soil. Factor B: Sawdust levels (4) viz., S0: control (0 g/kg soil), S1: 10 g/kg soil, S2: 50 g/kg soil, and S3: 100 g/kg soil.

Results:

 Arsenic content in Potato tuber peel and flesh gradually increased with the increase of Arsenic levels. As3 was found for the highest accumulation of Arsenic in tuber peel (3.867 mg/kgfresh weight) and flesh (0.6236 mg/kgfresh weight). Arsenic content in both peel and flesh of Potato tuber decreased with increasing sawdust levels. The soil treated with S3 reduced 86.41% and 51.44% Arsenic accumulation from tuber peel and flesh, respectively, compared to control (S0). Potato produced from the treatment As1S1 accumulated a lower amount of Arsenic (0.15 mg/kgfresh weight) in Potato flesh compared to those of other treatments.

Conclusion:

 Therefore, Potato growers can produce Potato in 25 mg/kg Arsenic contaminated soil treated with 10 g sawdust/kg soil, which contains a minimum than the critical level of Arsenic for human consumption.

Thirteen advanced potato genotypes developed by TCRC were characterized for 24 qualitative and 16 quantitative traits and analyzed for diversity by PCO, PCA, and Cluster analysis. Qualitative traits showed low variability (0.34), which Quantitative traits showed medium-high variation (0.67). The pooling of all traits showed a medium type index (0.51). The genotypes were grouped into four clusters. Cluster I had six genotypes, while cluster II and IV had only one. The highest inter-cluster distance was observed between clusters II and III and the lowest was between clusters III and IV. The highest intracluster distance was found in cluster I, whereas Cluster II (0.00) and cluster IV (0.00) showed the lowest. The highest inter-genotype distance was between genotypes 8.46 and 7.33 (33.79), and the lowest was between 7.86 and 7.48 (5.70). The genotypes of cluster I earned the highest mean values for foliage coverage, plant vigor and tuber numbers/hill. Cluster II produced the highest means for plant vigor, primary stem/hill, leaf length, leaf width, leaflet blade length, blade width, lateral leaflet blade length, width, tuber weight/hill, and tuber yield. The first three PCA counted for 91.75% of the total variation, whereas the first one accounted for 69.47%. From the scree plot, three principal sample components effectively summarized the total variance. Results of PCA showed the reduction of the 16 original variables to three independent linear combinations of PCA. The number of tubers/hill contributed maximum towards divergence.

The research was carried out to assess the effect of vermicompost and tuber size on the changes of TSS (total soluble solids), sucrose (non-reducing sugar) content, and skin color of potato under ambient storage condition. Potato variety BARI TPS-1 was used as an experimental crop. The experiment was consisted of two factors, i.e., factor A:- Vermicompost level (Vm1-4): Vm1: 0 t ha-1 (control), Vm2: 3 t ha-1, Vm3: 6 t ha-1 and Vm4: 9 t ha-1; factor B:- Tuber size (T1-5): T1: 5-10 g, T2: 10-20 g, T3: 20-30 g, T4: 30-40 g and T5: >40 g. The research exhibited that vermicompost had a significant effect on most of the quality contributing parameters investigated under the experiment. Results exhibited that processing quality parameters increased with increasing vermicompost level irrespective of tuber size. Among the twenty (20) treatment combinations, vermicompost at the rate of 9 t ha-1 with tuber size >40 g produced the minimum total soluble solids (4.55% Brix), minimum sucrose (0.2947 mg g-1 FW) and maximum skin color (L* 67.38, a* 15.38, b* 26.60). In respect of ambient storage condition total soluble solids (TSS), sucrose slowly increased with increasing storage time up to 40 days after storage (DAS) and finally became non-suitable for both table and processing purpose; while skin color decreased with increasing storage time. Therefore, the study suggests that potato growers may use vermicompost for improving processing quality of potato varieties and can store potato up to 40 DAS at ambient storage condition.

The experiment was implemented at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Bangladesh to assess the effect of variety and vermicompost on the starch and sugar content activity of potato and their performance under ambient storage condition. The experiment consisted of two factors, i.e., factor A:- Potato varieties (V-4): V1: BARI TPS-1, V2: BARI Alu-28 (Lady Rosetta),V3: BARI Alu-25 (Asterix) and V4: BARI Alu-29 (Courage); factor B:-Vermicompost level (M-4): M1: 0 t ha-1 (Control), M2: 2 t ha-1, M3: 4 t ha-1 and M4: 6 t ha-1. Inferior quality is a major problem for potato production in Bangladesh. The application of vermicompost may enhance the processing quality of potato. The research revealed that vermicompost had a remarkable effect on most of the processing quality contributing parameters. Results also exhibited those processing parameters improved with increasing vermicompost level. Among the sixteen treatment combinations, Asterix with vermicompost at 6 t ha-1 showed the highest glucose, sucrose content. These two combinations also showed a little bit higher concentration of glucose and sucrose compared to those of other combinations. In case of ambient storage condition; starch decreased with increasing storing period while total soluble solids, glucose and sucrose increased with increasing duration up to 60 days after storage (DAS). Lady Rosetta and Asterix may keep under ambient storage condition up to 60 days after storage without decreasing any significant quality degradation just prior to tuber sprouting. The potato growers of Bangladesh may use Vermicompost on their potato field @ 6 t ha-1 for maintaining preferable good processing standard.

The research was performed to assess the effect of vermicompost and tuber size on the storage behavior of potato during the ambient condition.

The research was consisted of two factors, i.e., factor A: vermicompost level (Vm-4): Vm1: 0 t ha−1 (control), Vm2: 3 t ha−1, Vm3: 6 t ha−1, and Vm4: 9 t ha−1; factor B: tuber size (T-5): T1: 5–10 g, T2: 10–20 g, T3: 20–30 g, T4: 30–40 g, and T5: > 40 g. The research was conducted in a split-plot design where vermicompost levels were assigned to the main plots and tuber sizes to the subplots.

Vermicompost had a significant effect on most of the processing quality contributing parameters of potato. Processing quality parameters increased with increasing vermicompost level irrespective of tuber size. Among the 20 treatment combinations, vermicompost @ 9 t ha−1 with tuber size > 40 g exhibited the highest starch (23.81 mg g−1 FW), antioxidant (478.84 Trolox µMol 100 g−1 FW), polyphenol (96.133 GA mg 100 g−1 FW), and the lowest reducing sugar (0.1020 mg g−1 FW). In respect of ambient storage condition, starch decreased with increasing storage time; reducing sugar gradually increased with increasing storage time up to 40 days after storage (DAS) and after that slightly decreased and finally, potato became non-suitable for both table and processing purpose; antioxidant and polyphenol slightly increased up to 20 DAS and after that gradually decreased with increasing storage time.

Potato growers may use vermicompost for increasing and improving processing quality of potato.

Effect of potassium (K) and mulch materials on grading of different types of tuber were investigated at the Agronomy research field of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka, Bangladesh during the period from November 2013 to March 2014.

The experiment comprised of four different doses of K viz., 0 kg K ha-1, 100 kg K ha-1, 125 kg K ha-1, 150 kg K ha-1 and four different types of mulch materials viz., soil mulch, rice straw, water hyacinth and saw dust. The experiment was laid out in a splitplot design with 3 replications. Statistical analysis done by using MSTAT-C program and mean differences among the treatments were compared by Least Significant Difference (LSD) at 5% level of significance.

Maximum large sized tubers were produced by 150 kg K ha-1 with rice straw mulch. Application of 125 kg K ha-1 with rice straw produced maximum seed potato and tuber for French fry. Without K and soil mulch produced highest tuber for chips (% by t ha-1).

Application of 125 kg K ha-1 with rice straw mulch seems to be more suitable for getting higher seed potato (% by number and % by weight) and French fry for BARI (Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute) TPS-I.