Effect of Diatomaceous Earth as Silicon Source on Yield and Quality of Potato Priya R.1, Jegadeeswari V., Selvaraj N. 1Dept. of Vegetable Crops, Horticultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore Online published on 13 January, 2016. Abstract Field experiments were conducted to study the effect of Diatomaceous Earth (DE) as a silicon source (63.7% SiO2) on yield and quality of potato (cv. Kufri Jyoti) in acid soils of Tamil Nadu, India. The treatments consist of 150, 300 and 600 kg ha ’of DE in combination with 100%, 75% and 50% Recommended Dose of Fertilizer (RDF-120: 240: 120 of N, P2O5 and K2O kg ha−1). Observation on germination per cent at 30 days after planting (DAP) had no significant treatment difference. The growth attributes were recorded at 60 DAP and showed significant treatment difference. The observations on yield attributes were recorded during harvest and were found significant. The treatment 75% RDF + DE @ 300 kg ha−1 recorded maximum number and weight of tubers per hill and tuber yield per hectare to the tune of 13.15, 598.00 g and 34.69 tonnes respectively. The grade wise tuber yield and tuber population of four grades namely very small (<25 g), small (25–50 g), medium (50–75 g) and large (>75 g) size tubers were recorded at harvest. The number of large size tubers and medium size tubers was higher in T9 (75% RDF + DE @ 300 kg ha−1) of 23.87 and 163.23 (̀000 ha−1) respectively. The same treatment recorded the maximum weight of large (4.22t ha−1) and medium (17.14t ha−1) size tubers. The tuber quality parameters namely total carbohydrates, starch, Total Soluble Solids (TSS) showed significant difference among the treatments. Top Keywords Diatomaceous earth, silicon, potato tubers, quality parameters. Top |