Nitrogen use efficiency of taro and sweet potato in the humid lowlands of Papua New Guinea

Abstract

Root crops are an important staple food in the Pacific region. Yields are generally low and inorganic fertilizers are deemed an option to increase root crop production. The effects of inorganic N fertilizers on upland taro (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) and sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) were quantified with the aim to investigate relationships between inherent soil fertility, N uptake, N application rates and crop yield. The research took place on a sandy, Typic Tropofluvents in the humid lowlands of Papua New Guinea. Five levels of fertilizer N (0,100, 200, 300 and 400 kg ha −1 ) were given in split applications. The yield of marketable taro corms was not affected by N fertilizer but non-marketable corm yield doubled at high N fertilizer rates. High N applications yielded 8-11 Mg ha −1 more taro tops. Marketable and non-marketable sweet potato yield was negatively affected by N fertilizers. High N applications yielded 26 Mg ha −1 more vines than the control treatment. Nitrogen fertilizer significantly reduced the harvest index in both crops. When no fertilizer was applied, the total N uptake of taro was 32.0 kg ha −1 of which 9.7 kg was taken up in the marketable corms. At 400 kg N ha −1 the total N uptake was 67.5 kg ha −1 of which 23% was taken up by the marketable corms. Uptake of N in the marketable sweet potato tubers was less than 11 kg ha −1 and for most treatments more N was taken up in the non-marketable tubers than in the marketable yield. Up to 156 kg N ha −1 was taken up with the sweet potato vines. Despite the negative effect of N on sweet potato yield, sweet potato had a higher N use efficiency than taro due to a higher above-ground biomass production. The N fertilizer recovery was 25% for the sweet potato but only 9% for the taro indicating considerable N losses, likely caused by leaching.

Activation of Nitrogen-Fixing Endophytes Is Associated with the Tuber Growth of Sweet Potato

“…Both marketable and non-marketable sweet potato yields were negatively a ected by nitrogen fertilizer. 13) Despite the negative e ect of nitrogen on sweet potato tuber yield, I. batatas plants have a high nitrogen-use e ciency, which is used for increasing the size of leaves rather than tuberous roots. Our ndings indicate that under inorganic nitrogenfree cultivation, nitrogen-xing endophytes will be activated, allowing for growth of the tuberous roots.…”

Diverse concepts of breeding for nitrogen use efficiency. A review

“…We use examples of wheat by Spiertz (1980) (as published by De Wit 1992) and of potato by Vos (2009). For examples of a diversity of other crops and conditions, please see Penning de Vries and van Keulen (1982), Van Keulen (1982), Baan Hofman (1988, Caihong and Chenliu (1989), De Wit (1992), and Hartemink et al (2000). Note that the approach can also be used for other nutrients or for combinations of nutrients.…”

Yield decline of sweet potato in the humid lowlands of Papua New Guinea

“…Differences in leaf nutrient concentrations between the sites reflects soil, climatic and cultivar differences (Walker, 1987;Bruns and Bouwkamp, 1989). Despite the low leaf nitrogen levels fertilizer trials generally failed to show a tuber yield response to sulphur-containing nitrogen fertilizers (Hartemink et al, 2000) which supports the observation that sweet potato can produce reasonable yields in soils with low native nitrogen and without nitrogen fertilizer (Hill et al, 1990).…”

“…Data were used from different experiments at two sites and these were collected as part of medium-term experiments dealing with integrated nutrient management strategies for which results have been published elsewhere (e.g. Hartemink et al, 2000). Yields are related to rainfall and the number of cropping seasons, followed by nutrient availability, nutrient removal and nematode and weevil infestation.…”