CONCENTRATION OF THIOUREA IS EFFECTIVE IN BREAKING THE DORMANCY OF POTATO VARIETIES

Potato germination is highly sensitive to ecological conditions. High altitude and low annual average temperature results in tuber dormancy and poor sprouting. Dormancy has become a significant constraint for lowering potato production that hinders the possibility of growing two crops per year. An experiment was conducted from February to April 2020, where two major potato varieties (Desiree and Cardinal) were treated with four concentrations of Thiourea (0, 1, 2, and 3%) in a two factorial completely randomized block design with three replications. Results showed that Thiourea has a significant effect on all observed attributes as per varieties of potato. For Desiree variety, Thiourea (1%) decreased breaking of dormancy by 22 days compared to control (Desiree*Thiourea 0%) and produced the longest average sprout of 7.36cm at 49 days after treatment (DAT). On the other hand, for the Cardinal variety, Thiourea (3%) decreased tuber dormancy by 27 days compared to control (Cardinal*Thiourea 0%) and produced a sprout of 7.75 cm at 49 DAT. In conclusion, for breaking dormancy and enhancing sprouting of potato varieties Desiree and Cardinal, Thiourea concentration of 1% and 3% is recommended, respectively. Author summary This work is the combined effort of all the authors; conceptualization and designing the plot experiments, S.R. and M.D.; performing the experiment and data collection, S.R. and A.A.; statistical analysis and preparation of presentation table and figure, S.R. and B.A.; writing the original draft and editing the whole manuscript, S.R., M.D., R.S., S.S., and A.A. All the author have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.