Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T05:34:39.940Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Results from experiments measuring the effects of large amounts of an NPK fertilizer on yield, tuber size and N, P and K contents of three potato varieties

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

F. V. Widdowson  and
A. Penny
F. V. Widdowson
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts.
A. Penny
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Experiments with main-crop potatoes were made at Rothamsted and Woburn in 1971 and 1972 to measure the effects of applying four amounts (1260, 1880, 2510 or 3140 kg/ha) of granular NPK fertilizer (containing 13% N, 13% P2O5 and 20% K2O)for two pairs of varieties (Pentland Crown and King Edward at Rothamsted; Pentland Crown and Record at Woburn) planted either 30 or 45 cm apart in the row.

Yields of each variety were greatly increased by the first and second increments of fertilizer at each farm each year (mean increases of 5·5 and 5·2 t/ha respectively), but less by the third (2·1 t/ha); total yields were increased from 35·7 t/ha with 1260 kg/ha of fertilizer to 48·5 t/ha with 3140 kg/ha. As yields increased the proportion of small tubers (< 44 mm) decreased, whilst that of medium (44–70 mm) and large (> 70 mm) tubers increased.

The removals of N, P and K by each variety of potato were calculated; for those given 2510 kg/ha of 13·13–20 fertilizer, the mean amounts (kg/ha) removed were 154, 20·6 and 242 of N, P and K respectively, or 47, 14 and 58% of the amounts given. A balance sheet showed the amounts remaining in the soil after potato harvest.

Winter wheat was grown after the potatoes to value residual N. In 1972, when average amounts of winter rain fell, grain yields were increased by these residues on the heavy Rothamsted soil, but not on the sandy Woburn soil. In 1973, after an unusually dry winter, the residues consistently decreased yields because of lodging, showing that little N had leached during the winter. % N in the grain was increased by the fertilizer residues each year.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 85 , Issue 3 , December 1975 , pp. 515 - 525
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

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

Bolton, J. (1966). Magnesium deficiency at Woburn. Rothamsted Report for 1965, p. 45.Google Scholar
Jarvis, R. H. (1971). Population studies with Pentland Crown and Pentland Dell potatoes. Experimental Husbandry 20, 84–92.Google Scholar
Jarvis, R. H. & Shotton, F. E. (1971). Population studies with King Edward potatoes. Experimental Husbandry 20, 12–29.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1973 a). Fertiliser Recommendations for Agricultural and Horticultural Crops. Bulletin 209, p. 20. London: H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1973 b). Types of fertiliser used on farm crops in England and Wales, 1972. Duplicated report SS/SAF/5.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food (1974). Fertiliser Types 1973: Increases in the use of ‘straight’ N. A.D.A.S. Soil Scientists Soil Analysis and Fertiliser Committee. Duplicated report SS/SAF/11.Google Scholar
Widdowson, F. V. & Penny, A.. (1973). Yields and N, P and K contents of the crops grown in the Rothamsted Reference Experiment, 1956–70. Rothamsted Report for 1972, Part 2, pp. 111–30.Google Scholar
Widdowson, F. V., Penny, A. & Flint, R. C. (1970). The residual effects of nitrogen and potassium fertilisers. Rothamsted Report for 1969, Part 1, pp. 47–8.Google Scholar
Widdowson, F. V., Penny, A. & Flint, R. C. (1974). Results from experiments measuring the effects of large amounts of fertilizer and of farmyard manure on main-crop potatoes grown in sandy soil at Woburn, Bedfordshire. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 82, 117–27.CrossRefGoogle 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 fertiliser and the residual effects on following winter wheat. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 69, 247–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar