INTRODUCTION The Kinnaur and Spiti region of Great Himalayas are characterized by high altitude (2471 to 2772 m amsl), sub-zero temperatures (–25 to –35°C) for many months (November to March) and low rainfall (20 cm average annual rainfall). Therefore, there is only one crop during summer (April to October). The entire region has assumed greater importance owing to favourable conditions for growing potato ( Solanum tuberosum), which fetches high premiums in the super vegetable markets. The commercial cultivation of potato has come up in a big way in high hills, but due to poor crop management, the yields are very low (5.7 t/ha) compared with national average of 15.4 t/ha. Major reasons for low yield in this part of the state appear to be indiscriminate use of fertilizers (N: P: K) (12). Earlier Parmar et al. (10) studied the response of potato to NPK fertilizer application along with farmyard INCREASING POTATO PRODUCTIVITY AND PROFITABILITY THROUGH INTEGRATED PLANT NUTRIENT SYSTEM IN THE NORTH-WESTERN HIMALAYAS D.K. Parmar 1 , Akhilesh Sharma, Sanjay Chaddha 2 , Vinod Sharma, Ankur Vermani, Arun Mishra, Girish Gautam and Virender Kumar 1 ABSTRACT : The on-farm trials were conducted for two summer seasons (2003 and 2004) on potato at two locations, namely, Kinnaur in dry temperate and Spiti in cold desert region of Himachal Pradesh to study the effect of synthetic fertilizers (macro and micro nutrients) along with organic manure (FYM) and bio-fertilizers on yield, profitability, nutrient availability in soil and their uptake by plants, and tuber quality. The tuber yield increased with the combined use of fertilizers and manure as compared to farmers, practice. Similarly, the total uptake of nutrients also increased, beside improvement in soil status after crop harvest. There was also a significant effect of synthetic, bio-fertilizers and farmyard manure on plant height, protein and starch content. The integrated use of chemical fertilizers, bio-fertilizers and organic manure resulted in the highest net returns. manure. The information on the combined application of synthetic fertilizers, bio- fertilizers and farmyard manure in potato under dry temperate conditions is lacking. Thus, it was considered imperative to evaluate different sources of nutrients, which may supplement the synthetic fertilizers requirement of crop and reduce the absolute dependence on synthetic fertilizers. The study at farmers’ fields was aimed to develop integrated plant nutrient system for potato crop under dry temperate and cold desert conditions. MATERIALS AND METHODS Two on-farm trials, separately on two farmers’ fields, were conducted with potato cultivar ‘Kufri Chandramukhi’ during summer of 2003 and 2004 at Leo village in Kinnaur valley and Lari village in Spiti valley of Himachal Pradesh (32 o 42’ 32” N latitude and 1 CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Hill Agricultural Research and Extension Centre, Bajaura-175 125, Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, India. 2 Department of Vegetable Science & Floriculture, CSK HPKV, Palampur-176 062, Himachal Pradesh, India. Potato J. 34 (3 - 4): 209-215, 2007