Potato (Solanum tuberosum) seed bio-priming influences tuber yield in new released cultivars

Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is a starchy and tuberous crop of the Solanaceae family. In order to study effect of tuber bio-priming on yield of new released potato cultivars a field experiment was conducted at Tabriz, Iran, during 2009. Studied factors were three potato cultivars (Agria, Satina, Kuzima) and three kind of biofeilizers as Azotobacter, Super nitro plus, and Super nitro, a non-inoculated treatment as control. Results revealed that umber of tubers per plant in those seeds inoculated with Azotobacter and Super nitro, was 8.2, while noninoculated seeds produced 7 tubers per plant. Seed inoculation with biofertilizers caused to reducing of tubers size 34.1%, 38.3% and 25.9%, respectively, when compared to the control. Seeds treated with Azotobacter produced higher tuber yield (18840 kg ha-1), and the lowest from control (15380 kg ha-1). The stepwise regression analysis verified that the tubers with diameter of greater than 40 mm and mean of tuber weight per plant had a marked increasing effect on the seed yield of potato. Seeds inoculation with studied biofertilizers before sowing could be recommended for potato farmers.