Vol. 7, Issue 9, Part L (2025)

Potato is a major food and processing crop whose economic value depends not only on yield but also on tuber technological and nutritional quality. However, intensive production systems in the Indo-Gangetic plains are often characterised by imbalanced fertiliser use, declining soil fertility and suboptimal food-quality traits. A two-year field experiment was conducted with processing cultivar Kufri Chipsona-3 to evaluate the potential of balanced nutrient supplementation for simultaneous improvement of yield, food-quality attributes and profitability. Seven nutrient management regimes were compared in a randomised complete block design: unfertilised control, farmers’ fertiliser practice, 100% recommended dose of fertiliser (RDF), 75% RDF + farmyard manure (FYM), 75% RDF + vermicompost + biofertilisers, 100% RDF + S + Zn + B, and 50% RDF + FYM + vermicompost + biofertilisers + NPK-enriched compost. Balanced integrated treatments significantly increased total and marketable tuber yield compared with both control and RDF, with the most comprehensive INM treatment (50% RDF + organics + biofertilisers + enriched compost) recording the highest yields and net returns. Dry matter, specific gravity and starch content improved progressively with increasing nutrient balance, while reducing sugars and chip colour score declined, indicating better suitability for processing. Ascorbic acid and tuber concentrations of N, P, K, S, Zn and B were also enhanced under micronutrient-fortified and organic-amended regimes, demonstrating agronomic biofortification. Integrated treatments achieved higher benefit: cost ratios and greater partial factor productivity of applied nutrients than conventional fertiliser practice. The results show that balanced nutrient supplementation, anchored in integrated nutrient management, can reorient potato production towards high-yielding, quality-oriented and nutrition-sensitive systems while reducing reliance on high mineral fertiliser doses.