Nitrogen and Chloride Uptake by Irrigated Russet Burbank Potatoes¹

Abstract

Potato production has become a major agricultural enterprise in the central sand plain of Wisconsin. However, little information is available on the effects of irrigation and fertilization practices on dry matter and N accumulation. This field study was established to determine the effect of reducing irrigation and fertilizer N on the dry matter, and the N and Cl in potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L., var. ‘Russet Burbank’) grown on a Plainfield loamy sand (Typic Udipsamment: sandy, mixed, mesic). Two basic treatments were used. The conventional treatment approximated current recommendations for irrigated potatoes and received 260 kg N/ha (as NH4NO3) in four applications and 45 an irrigation as 2.4 cm applications every 5 days. The improved treatment was intened to minimize leaching of NO3‐N. It received 170 kg N/ha in 10 applications (one as S‐coated urea and nine as NH4NO3) and 27.0 cm irrigation as 1.0 cm applications every 3 days. Chloride (as KCl) accompanied N on a 1:l weight basis. Plants were sampled weekly and analyzed for dry matter, total N, NO3‐N, and Cl. Plants accumulated 3 to 4 kg N/ha/day from 20 to 70 days after emergence. The maximum N uptake for the whole plant (tops and tubers) was 170 to 250 kg N/ha about 90 days after emergence. The maximum uptake of N in the tops was 125 and 80 kg N/ha in the conventional and improved treatments, respectively. Tuber yields and N uptake were similar between treatments with tubers containing 1.3 to 1.5% N most of the growing season and 130 to 140 kg N/ha (27 to 30 kg N/100 q) at harvest. Plants accumulated 115 to 145 kg Cl/ha, mostly in the tops (90 to 120 kg Cl/ha) with 25 to 40 kg Cl/ha in the harvested tubers. Nitrate‐N levels were low (<100 mg/kg) in tubers at all samplings. Nitrate‐N was >2,000 mg/kg in the tops during the first half of the growing season and accounted for 10 to 25% of the total N. Due to competitive antagonism, Cl reduced NO3‐N concentration in tops and petioles, and total N in tops and tubers. The results from this study show that tuber growth and N content were not appreciably affected by substantial reductions in the quantity of fertilizer N (90 kg N/ha) and irrigation (18 cm) applied although foliage dry matter and N accumulation were reduced. However, the additional effort required to effect this small saving in N fertilizer cannot currently be justified.

Effect of current-season application of calcitic lime and phosphorus fertilization on potato tuber phosphorus concentration and leaf chemical composition

“…When 5 t ha 21 lime was applied, Cl concentrations increased with increasing rates of applied P, for example, concentrations at 0, 50 and 100 kg ha 21 applied P were 1.29, 1.57 and 1.70%, respectively. Saffigna and Keeney [29] showed that Cl concentrations in leaf and stem tissue increase with plant age in contrast, Soltanpour and Cole [30] for the cultivar Russet Burbank, reported that Cl concentrations in leaves decreased over the period 44 to 100 days after planting. Chloride concentrations in the 5 th leaf increased significantly over time (Table 3).…”

Curva de crescimento e acúmulo de nutrientes pela cultura da batata cv. 'Atlantic'

“…Geralmente, o potássio reduz a produção de MS e, o cloreto de potássio tem produzido mais efeitos negativos quando relacionado ao sulfato, porém a aplicação adequada de nitrogênio e potássio pode aumentar a produção de MS (Saffigna & Keeney, 1977;Roberts & Dole, 1985).…”

A critical assessment of the value of petiole sap analysis in optimizing the nitrogen nutrition of the potato crop

“…Various 'time' bases have been used or suggested for scaling 'critical nutrient ranges': These include calendar date (Doll et al, 1971;Jackson and Carter, 1976;Westermann et al, 1988), days after planting (Porter and Sisson, 1991;Tyler et al, 1983), days after emergence (Roberts and Cheng, 1988;Saffgna and Keeney, 1977), and tuber size (Gardner and Jones, 1975;Williams and Maier, 1990a). Only the last of these is scaled with plant development and there the link is not clear, even setting aside varietal differences in tuber shape.…”