Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T05:26:21.424Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effect of placement of liquid and solid fertilizer on the growth and yield of potatoes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

R. Holliday
Affiliation:
School of Agricultural Sciences, Leeds University
A. P. Draycott
Affiliation:
School of Agricultural Sciences, Leeds University

Summary

Three field experiments in 1963–5 compared the effects of three methods of fertilizer application, each at four rates, on the growth and yield of main-crop potatoes. Solid fertilizer was broadcast over the furrows and then concentrated round the seed tubers by splitting the ridges during machine planting. Liquid fertilizer was injected immediately after planting either 2 in below and 2 in to the side (shallow placement), or 6 in below and 2 in to the side of the seed tubers (deep placement). Solid and liquid supplied the same quantity of nutrients.

In two years deep placement of liquid gave larger yields than the solid fertilizer and in all three years larger yields than shallow placement of liquid. Results from growth analysis of the 1963 crop indicated that deep placement of liquid gave the largest yield after a dry period. Growth analysis on an additional experiment in 1964 showed that when the soil moisture deficit was limited by irrigation to 1-6 in, both the yield and nitrogen uptake from shallowly and from deeply placed liquids were similar. However, without irrigation deep placement gave a larger yield and nitrogen uptake than shallow placement. An artificial 'dry climate' emphasized that the magnitude of the response to deep placement was related to the soil-moisture regime. It is concluded that the deepplaced fertilizer was in a region of the soil which remained moist, whereas the shallower fertilizer was in drier soil where it was less available to the potato roots.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1968

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Baba, M. R. (1964). Stome aspects of the interaction between organic and inorganic fertilizers. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Leeds.Google Scholar
Boyd, D. A., Hill, J. R. & Batey, T. (1967). The effect on yield of maincrop potatoes of different methods of fertilizer application. Expl. Husb. 16, 1320.Google Scholar
Cooke, G. W. (1949a). Placement of fertilizer for potatoes. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 39, 96103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooke, G. W. (1949b). Placement of fertilizer for row crops. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 39, 359–73.Google Scholar
Cooke, G. W. (1967). The availability of plant nutrients in soils and their uptake by crops. Rep. E. Mailing Res. Stn 1966, pp. 4869.Google Scholar
Eck, H. V. & Fanning, C. (1961). Placement of fertilizer in relation to soil moisture supply. Agron. J. 53, 335–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, F. G. (1937). Mineral nutrition of plants. A. Rev. Biochem. 7, 557–78.Google Scholar
Hodgson, D. R. & Draycott, A. P. (1968). Aqueous ammonia compared with other nitrogenous fertilizers as solids and solutions on grass. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 71, 195203.Google Scholar
Holliday, R., Harris, P. M. & Baba, M. R. (1965). Investigations into the mode of action of farmyard manure. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 64, 161–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohnke, H. & Bertrand, A. B. (1956). Fertilizing the subsoil for better water utilisation. Proc. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. 20, 581–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maggs, D. H. (1956). In The Growth of Leaves, p. 200. London: Butterworths.Google Scholar
Watson, D. J. (1937). The estimation of leaf area in field crops. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 28, 474–83.Google Scholar
Watson, D. J. (1963). In The Growth of the Potato, pp. 233–47. London: Butterworths.Google Scholar
Widdowson, F. V., Penny, A. & Williams, R. J. B. (1967). Experiments comparing the effects on yields of potatoes of three methods of applying three amounts of NPK fertilizer and the residual effects on following winter wheat. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 69, 247–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar