author(s)
Anirban Kumar Mishra and Shreya R Kulkarni

abstract
Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a nutrient-exhaustive, shallow-rooted crop whose productivity and quality in eastern India are strongly constrained by imbalanced fertilizer use and declining soil fertility. A field experiment was conducted during the rabi season of 2022-23 at a research farm in southern Odisha to evaluate this research. The trial was laid out in a randomized complete block design with six treatments and three replications on a sandy clay loam Inceptisol. Treatments comprised an unfertilised control, 100% recommended dose of fertilizer (RDF) through mineral NPK and four integrated nutrient management (INM) combinations in which 50-75% of the recommended nitrogen was supplied through mineral fertilizers and the remaining 25-50% through farmyard manure and/or vermicompost, along with full recommended P and K. Standard agronomic practices were followed and data on growth attributes, yield components, tuber yield, quality parameters and post-harvest soil fertility were recorded and analysed using ANOVA. INM treatments significantly improved plant height, stem number, leaf area index, tuber number, average tuber weight and total tuber yield compared with the control and 100% RDF. The treatment supplying 75% N through mineral fertilizers + 25% N through vermicompost produced the highest total yield (about 30 t ha⁻¹), superior specific gravity, dry matter and starch content, and the maximum net returns and benefit-cost ratio. Integrated treatments also enhanced soil organic carbon and available NPK relative to 100% RDF. The study demonstrates that judicious integration of mineral fertilizers with organic manures offers a productive, profitable and soil-restorative nutrient management strategy for potato under the agro-ecological conditions of southern Odisha.