EFFECT OF GROWTH HORMONES ON THE GROWTH AND YIELD OF POTATO (SOLANUM TUBEROSUM) IN JOS, PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA

A pot/cement bag experiment was conducted from December 2023-March 2024 at the Faculty farm of University of Jos with the objective of investigating the effect of growth hormones on the growth and yield of potato in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. The treatments consist of two different hormones which includes a commercial hormone (Aspirin) and a natural hormone (aloe vera gel) at 3 different concentrations of 0.5g, 1.0g and 1.5g respectively for both hormones. These treatments were laid out in a complete randomized block design (RCBD) replicated four times. Operations included the use of cement bag (15cm in length and 12cm in diameter) which was filled with sandy-loam soil up to 2/3 of the cement bags. The potatoes were left to soak for about 45 minutes in the hormone solutions before sowing them into the cement bags. The experiment was carried out by regular irrigation applied every day at 20.11ml per day. The rate of application of water increased during flowering stage 30.17 ml per day at 8 weeks after planting. Weeds were controlled by hand pulling where necessary to avoid nutrient competition between the potato plants and the weeds. Poultry manure of 2kg per bag was applied evenly to all bags 3 days before planting and watered thoroughly before planting. Data were collected at 3, 6, 9 and 12 WAP. The data collected include plant height, fresh weight of potato tubers and sorted into three grades. The data was subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) for test of significance and the treatment means were separated using Duncans Multiple Range Test (DMRT) at 5% level of probability. The experiment reveals that for plant height, there was no significant differences in height observed among the treatments at 3, 6, 9, and 12 WAP. However, for the fresh tuber yield, Aspirin at 1.0 significantly increased tuber weight and medium-grade tuber weight while Aloe Vera at 1.0 significantly increased large-grade tuber weight. The control had the lowest performance in all yield components. In this study, the most consistently effective treatment across all observed factors was the usage of aloe vera at a rate of 1.0 concentration, which could be recommended for use by farmers.