Effects of Dehaulming in Potato (Solanum tuberosum) Cultivation: A Review

Potato is one of the most important commercial crops worldwide covering 20 million hectares cropping area. Series of cultivation practices are performed in potato cultivation where dehaulming is considered one of the prime-factors that affect the quality and size of tubers. It is also considered as a key factor in production of healthy potato seed in Seed plot technique methods. Dehaulming practice includes the act of detaching and defoliating the vegetative part lying above the ground of potato plant from the underground tuber. Effect of dehaulming is significantly found in the yield of seed tuber, the post-harvest quality of potato tuber and the disease, pest protection aspect of plants. The weight of tuber was found to be 384.20 g when haulm was cut at 65 days after planting (DAP), then significant increase in weight was found i.e. 533.00 g when the haulm was cut at 80 DAP. And the maximum seed yield was observed when dehaulming was done at 70 DAP i.e. 19.75 t/ha and similar to the non-seed yield. The post-harvest quality of tuber is also significantly improved when dehaulming was performed prior to harvesting. Mainly, the dehaulming practice when performed at 65 DAP was found comparatively safer from infestation and viral disease transmission through the sap sucking pest.