TRUE POTATO SEED (TPS)
True Potato seed (TPS) was first evolved through sexual reproduction like tomato, chili, brinjal etc., by Ramanujam in1957 and subsequently its commercial viability was tested. However, high heterozygosity of seedlings of TPS and uniformity in crop hampered its commercial adoption by farmers.
How to use TPS
Initially TPS is sown in nursery for raising seedlings which are latter transplanted in properly prepared seed bed but the process becomes labour intensive and very expensive. The TPS was tested and tried at international Potato Centre and Central Potato Research Centre Institute (CPRI) Shimla and recommended ways for eliminating raising seedlings and then transplanting. The method suggested two stage programme for raising healthy seeds, i. e.-
- Production of tuberlets in nursery beds in the first year.
- Storing them in cold store and planting them thickly as commercial crop in the following year. The method however needs testing field for its yield and economic viability. A seed rate of 50-150 g/hectare is used for sowing.
Advantages with TPS
Following are the advantages of TPS-
- This technique is used for disease free seed production. It is the technique for virus free seed production.
- Cost of tubers used in conventional method of planting is very high whereas the production of tuberlets in nursery for planting in next year relatively very low.
- Higher cost required for storage of huge bulk of conventionally used tubers is reduced as tuberlets (being very small in size) require very little space for storage. This also reduces cost in transplantation.
- The viral infiltration in the seed tuber is also less.
- The cost of tuber treating chemicals is also reduced because of relatively lesser volume of tuberlets.
- By this method, the disease free potato seed can be produced and prevention of diseases to new areas can be checked.
Submitted by JAI VIR SINGH on Thu, 07/01/2010 - 17:41