T HE potato is an important cultivated crop in the Red River Valley of Minnesota. This crop requires relatively large amounts of plant food, and, consequently, for most soils, fertilizer applications are necessary for high yields. The results of field experiments indicate that there is a need for the use of phosphate and potash fertilizers for potatoes in the Red River Valley (15) 3. During the course of the field trials studies were made to determine the influence of the fertilizers upon the composition and quality of the potatoes. 'Fertilizers improved the cooking quality of the potatoes, particularly on the lighter soils where nutrient deficiencies were more prevalent (8). The data reported in this article are concerned primarily with the effects of the fertilizers upon the composition of the potatoes. Considerable work has been done on the influence of fertilizers upon the composition and quality of potatoes, and many conflicting results have been obtained (17). This is probably due in large part to the different conditions under which the fertilizers have been used. For any crop there is a certain optimum of soil and plant nutrient conditions which ate most favorable to plant growth and deviations from this optimum may cause changes in plant composition. The effects of fertilizer elements on plant composition are interrelated since one fertilizer element may either enhance or have an antagonistic effect on the absorption of another. On soils which were deficient in potash in England (4, 6), both nitrogen and phosphate enhanced potassium deficiency symptoms in the potato tissue and phosphate deficiency symptoms were induced by nitrogen and nitrogenpotash treatments, but more strongly by the latter. It is, therefore, important that all nutrients are present in adequate amounts for the most satisfactory production of potatoes on a given soil.
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