Background:
Potato is a vegetative propagated crop and its virus free seed production has always been a serious issue. In traditional way of producing minitubers from tissue cultured plants, production in mere 5-7 tubers/plant which are of non-uniform size and many a times suffer from soil borne diseases. In this method huge area under insect proof netting is required which results into cost of production to the tune of Rs, 5-6 per minituber. Therefore, need of the time is to produce more minitubers per unit time per plant at reduced cost of production for meeting the huge seed potato requirement of India and many other countries. Technology Details:
Aeroponic system is a technology of growing plants in an air mist environment without the use of soil or any other aggregate media. The basic principal is to grow plants in a closed environment by periodically spraying roots with a nutrient rich solution. The advantaged of this technology are: • Seven to ten times more number of minitubers from in-vitro plantlets as compared to cultivation under net house conditions. • Avoidance of tissue culture plants from soil exposure and hence a large number of pathogens. • Freedom of multiple picking minitubers of desired size. • Efficient regulation of nutrients. • Efficient use of water and nutrients. • Can have crops depending upon the location.