Screening of potato cv. Florice against potato wart and Fusarium oxysporum using different planting densities based on the weight of the tubers

Potato wart and fusarium diseases are increasing rapidly in the potato producing areas of Turkey and are gradually becoming a cause of concern potato-based Turkish economy. Therefore, taking of early measures against both diseases are of great importance. Seed mini tubers regenerated under in vitro conditions have a significant role to produce disease-free tubers for use as plants. This research was conducted at Ankara province, in the Central Anatolia (hot-humid continental climate conditions (Dsb- as per koppen Geiger climate classification), in 2015-2016 growing seasons for 2 years. The mini tubers were planted in 5 different planting densities (70×10 cm, 70×15 cm, 70×20 cm, 70×25 cm, 70 × 30 cm) by using in vitro regenerated mini tubers belonging to 3 categories (5-10 g, 11-20 g and 21 -30 g) during 2015 and 2016 at Ankara in the Central Anatolia (hot-humid continental climate conditions (Dsb- as per koppen Geiger climate classification), belonging to the cv. Florice. A comparison was made for mean tuber weight per plant (g), number of tubers per plant (number/plant), Total weight of all tubersper plant (g/plant) and yield (kg/ha) at the time of harvest. The findings of the study showed that average tuber weight and number per plant, Total tuber weight per plant increased positively, and yield decreased by increasing the seed tuber weight and row to plant-to-plant distance between plants, when the results of the two years were compared. It was found that the weight changed from tuber weight was 91.3 g and 48.8 g/plant, number of tubers per plant was 5.5 and 5.3, Total tuber weight per plant was and 373.8 and 201.0 g/plant for first and 2nd year respectively without showing any signs of wart and fusarium regardless of the density of the plants. The maximum seed yields per hectare was 32,272 kg and 15,082 kg, during 2015 and 2016, respectively. When the tuber distribution was compared, the maximum of 40% and 39% tubers attained diameter of 35-60 mm and 25-35 mm in the first year and 2nd years in the same order. No wart and fusarium rot was noted on the tubers irrespective of the row to plant to plant distance in each plot. Maximum yield was obtained by planting large tubers (21-30 g) using planting density of 70 ×10 cm. The results recommended use of Ankara as an alternative place for the production of wart and fusarium rot free potato seed production area