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Concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere is likely to increase up to 550 µmol mol^-1 by the middle of 21^st century. Such an increase in the atmospheric CO₂ would affect plant growth, and as well the productivity of crop plants. A field experiment was conducted with two potato cultivars namely Kufri Surya and Kufri Chipsona-3 grown inside Open Top Chambers (OTCs) at ambient (385±30 µmol mol^-1) vs. elevated CO₂ (570±50 µmol mol^-1) levels during rabi (winter) season of the year 2009-2010. The photosynthetic rate significantly increased in both cultivars when under high CO₂ concentration, with the enhancement being more in Kufri Chipsona-3 than in Kufri Surya. There were significantly increased accumulations of reducing, non-reducing and total sugars observed in the leaves of both cultivars as due to CO₂ enrichment. Crop Growth Rate (CGR) and Tuber Growth Rate (TGR), in both cultivars, were recorded higher in plants grown under elevated CO₂ as compared with the ambient CO₂ content. High CO₂ increased the partitioning of dry matter towards the tubers at all the harvesting stages. Potato plants grown under elevated CO₂ exhibited increased tuber yield due to the enhanced number of tubers per plant. At the final harvest, total tuber fresh weight was by 36% higher, under high CO₂ treatments, as compared with that in the ambient. The response of K. Chipsona-3 was more pronounced, to elevated CO₂ concentration, as compared with K. Surya. It is concluded that rising atmospheric CO₂ in the future climatic change scenario may be beneficial to such tuber crops like potato to enhance growth as well as tuber number and finally yield.

Keywords: Dry matter partitioning, Elevated CO2, Photosynthesis, Potato, Sugars, Yield

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