ISHS Acta Horticulturae 619: XXVI International Horticultural Congress: Potatoes, Healthy Food for Humanity: International Developments in Breeding, Production, Protection and Utilization
EFFECT OF SUPPLEMENTAL LIGHTING, SUBSTRATE (POTTING MIX) VOLUME AND PLANT DENSITIES ON POTATO MINITUBER PRODUCTION DURING WINTER GREENHOUSE CULTURE IN QUEBEC |
| Authors: | J. Abdulnour, G. Roy, Y. Desjardins |
| Keywords: | Solanum tuberosum, seed production, light intensity, Photosynthetic Photon Flux (PPF), substrate depth, potting mix depth, controlled environment, plant spacing |
| Abstract:
An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of light, substrate volume and plant density on minituber yield of greenhouse-grown potato cv. ‘FL-1207’ during the winter season. Light was supplemented to provide either 150 or 300 µmol m-2 s-1 at the plant level. Plants were grown on 5 or 10 cm deep potting mix (Promix BR) at two densities of 100 or 200 plants /m2. There was no interaction between the light intensity, substrate volume or plant density. The high light intensity supplementation (300 µmol m-2 s-1) increased minituber number and weight by 27 and 57 %, respectively, over the 150 µmol m-2 s-1 light supplementation. Similarly, the deeper substrate (10 cm) increased minituber number from 344 to 463 /m2, and doubled their yield from 1865 to 3739 gm-2. The effect of plant density on minituber yield differed whether it was expressed per area (per m2) or per plant. The highest plant density of 200 plants /m2 increased minituber number from 367 to 440 /m2 but not their weight, thus decreasing their average biomass produced from 7.5 to 6.0 g. However, the highest plant density reduced minituber number and weight per plant from 3.7 to 2.2 and 28 g to 14 g, respectively. | |
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