KEEPING QUALITY OF TUBERS DERIVED FROM TRUE POTATO SEED (TPS) UNDER NATURAL STORAGE CONDITION

Storage quality of three sizes of tubers of eight TPS progenies against standard variety Cardinal has been studied for 120 days (April to July) under ntural storage condition. Weight loss of tubers due to transpiration and respiration was 23.93% in TPS progenies and 11.95% in Cardinal with average monthly loss of 5.98% and 2.99% respectively. Small size tubers were found to suffer most from dehydration. Erwinia sp. and Fusarium sp. have been identified to cause rot disease of tubers in storage. The incidences of soft rot and dry rot were 33.40% and 34.15%, respectively. No rot was observed in Cardinal during the period of study. Maximum rottage loss was recorded in large size tubers. Tubers of the TPS progenies sprouted earlier than Cardinal. Maximum number of sprouts per tuber and length of the longest sprout were recorded in TPS progenies. Tubers of TPS progenies shrivelled earlier than Cardinal.