ORGANIC POTATO CROPS ARE IMPROVED BY INOCULATING A MICROBIAL INOCULUM TO THE CUT SURFACE OF SEED TUBERS

Summary

Potato seed tubers are usually cut into blocks to reduce seed cost, break dormancy and induce dominance. In chemical farming, the cut surface is usually treated with fungicides to avoid infection. In the present research, the cut surface of the seed tuber blocks was treated with a microbial inoculum mixed into bamboo charcoal powder and dried for a moment. Inoculating and drying the cut trace of seed tuber blocks induced activation of the antioxidant enzymes SOD and POD. Properly drying the cut trace induced osmotic adjustment, leaf turgor improvement, disease resistance and yield increase in the potato crop. The treatments were more effective in the soil with compost applied onto the surface. The treatments with sterilized inoculum were more effective than that with the original inoculum. In conclusion, inoculating and properly drying cut trace of seed tuber blocks was feasible to improve organic potato crops.