ISHS Acta Horticulturae 579: II Balkan Symposium on Vegetables and Potatoes
DIAGNOSING NITROGEN REQUIREMENTS OF POTATOES IN FARMERS' CROPS |
| Authors: | I. Papastylianou, S. Gregoriou |
| Keywords: | Potato Petiole Nitrate, Critical Nitrate Range, Nitrogen |
| Abstract:
Plant nutrition, especially nitrogen fertilization, is of major importance for the quantity and quality of potato tuber production. Even though recipes for quantity of nitrogen fertilization exist, due to the mobility of nitrogen, farmers wonder whether supplementary nitrogen fertilizer should be applied during the growing season. Diagnosis of the nitrogen nutrition status of the potato plant could be based on nitrate concentration in petioles. The applicability and diagnostic precision of this method were tested in fourteen experiments with different nitrogen fertilizer rates, established in farmers΄ crops. Nitrate concentration in petiole sap was monitored throughout the growing season and it was related to tuber yield. In thirteen out of fourteen cases the nitrate concentration diagnosed the nitrogen nutrition status of the crop and predicted the necessity of nitrogen fertilizer application during the growing season. A practical simple test for analysing petiole sap for nitrate was developed. The test could be practiced in situ by the farmer, and the necessity of nitrogen fertilizer application could be decided immediately. | |
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