EVALUATION OF Azospirillum brassilense DOSE RESPONSE ON GROWTH AND YIELD OF MINITUBERS FROM APICAL ROOTED CUTTINGS GROWN IN COCO-PEAT

Abstract

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the most valuable crops in the world, ranked as the 4th most important food crops after rice, wheat and maize. Currently, a variety of techniques for producing potato minituber have been investigated, including soilless aeroponic, hydroponic and deep-water culture systems. However, minitubers potato production in the greenhouse from apical rooted cutting grown coco-peat under a photoperiod and nutritional - shock system is a new and creative idea. The use of diazotrophic bacteria such as Azospirillum brasilense demonstrates a positive effect on nitrogen availability, a primordial element for the development of this plant. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the growth and minitubers yield in a potato cultivar inoculated with A. brasilense at different doses. The experiments were conducted in controlled greenhouse on concrete raising beds with dimensions of 10 m x 1 m x 0.3 m. The study revealed that the concentration of A. brasilense at different doses significantly affected the height growth, leaves growth, leaves area growth, the average number of tubers plant^-1, standard tuber and potato seed minituber yield. The treatment applied with A. brasilense at a concentration of 200 mL m^-2 after planting gave the highest yield of potato minitubers (277.8 tubers m^-2).