Canopy temperature (CT) as a surrogate of stomatal conductance has been highlighted as an essential physiological indicator for optimizing irrigation timing in potatoes. However, assessing how this trait could help improve yield prediction will help develop future decision support tools. In this study, the incorporation of CT minus air temperature (dT) in a simple ecophysiological model was analyzed in three trials between 2017 and 2018, testing three water treatments under drip (DI) and furrow (FI) irrigations. Water treatments consisted of control (irrigated until field capacity) and two-timing irrigation based on physiological thresholds (CT and stomatal conductance). Two model perspectives were implemented based on soil water balance (P1) and using dT as the penalizing factor (P2), affecting the biomass dynamics and radiation use efficiency parameters. One of the trials was used for model calibration and the other two for validation. Statistical indicators of the model performance determined a better yield prediction at harvest for P2, especially under maximum stress conditions. The P1 and P2 perspectives showed their highest coefficient of determination (R2) and lowest root-mean-squared error (RMSE) under DI and FI, respectively. In the future, the incorporation of CT combining low-cost infrared devices/sensors with spatial crop models, satellite image information, and telemetry technologies, an adequate decision support system could be implemented for water requirement determination and yield prediction in potatoes.
Background The native Andean potatoes, despite their low yield, have a large diversity that is conserved by subsistence farmers in Peru, due to their culinary characteristics and other qualities. However, this diversity is threatened by the impacts of climate change, which would directly affect the food security of these people, and eventually ours. Among its qualities of resistance to pests and diseases, there could be a genetic source of resistance to late blight, one of the most damaging diseases of the potato crop in the world. In this assay, 103 native landraces collected from local farmers in the Pasco region of Peru were subjected to natural infection conditions with Phytophthora infestans to identify potential resistant landraces within them. Results The 103 landraces assessed showed a broad variety of responses and were classified as “resistant” (22%), “moderately resistant” (57%), and “susceptible landraces” (21%). A relative effect of the disease in the yield is also shown, which is already low for commercial intentions. Conclusion Within this representative sample of the native potato diversity of the Pasco region, at least 23 local varieties grown by subsistence farmers have resistance qualities against eventual late blight disease.
Potatoes—a global food security and staple crop—is threatened by dry spells in drought-prone areas. The use of physiological thresholds to save water while maintaining a reasonable tuber yield has been proposed, but their effects on physiological performances and usefulness under different irrigation methods are yet to be evaluated. In this study, photosynthetic traits were monitored to assess the effect of water restriction and rewatering under drip (DI) and furrow (FI) irrigations. The treatments consisted of two maximum light-saturated stomatal conductance (g s _ m a x ) irrigation thresholds (T2: 0.15 and T3: 0.05 mol H 2 O m − 2 s − 1 ) compared with a fully irrigated control (g s _ m a x > 0.3 mol H 2 O m − 2 s − 1 ). DI used less water than FI but promoted early senescence and low percentage of maximum assimilation rate (PMA) at late developmental stages. FI caused no yield penalization in T2 and higher recovery of carbon isotope discrimination and PMA than DI. It is suggested that moderate water quantities of early and frequently water pulses in the irrigation, promote short-term water stress memory improvement, senescence delay and more capability of recovery at late stages.
Crop efficiencies associated with intercepted radiation, conversion into biomass and allocation to edible organs are essential for yield improvement strategies that would enhance genetic properties to maximize carbon gain without increasing crop inputs. The production of 20 potato landraces—never studied before—was analyzed for radiation interception ( ε i ), conversion ( ε c ) and partitioning ( ε p ) efficiencies. Additionally, other physiological traits related to senescence delay (normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) s l p ), tuberization precocity ( t u ), photosynthetic performance and dry tuber yield per plant (TY) were also assessed. Vegetation reflectance was remotely acquired and the efficiencies estimated through a process-based model parameterized by a time-series of airborne imageries. The combination of ε i and ε c , closely associated with an early tuber maturity and a NDVI s l p explained 39% of the variability grouping the most productive genotypes. TY was closely correlated to senescence delay (r P e a r s o n = 0.74), indicating the usefulness of remote sensing methods for potato yield diversity characterization. About 89% of TY was explained by the first three principal components, associated mainly to t u , ε c and ε i , respectively. When comparing potato with other major crops, its ε p is very close to the theoretical maximum. These findings suggest that there is room for improving ε i and ε c to enhance potato production.
Review question / Objective: The objective of this review is to analyze the effect of zero-tillage and organic mulching (with emphasis on rice-straw) on several Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) related to productivity, resources-use efficiency, and soil health, as well as, C footprint, and weed control for growing potatoes in rice-based systems in Asia. Can zero-tillage and organic mulching increase agronomic gain in potatoes crop in Asia? Rationale: Potato cultivation under zero-tillage and mulching (PZTM) between rice or rice-other crops projects a sustainable intensification of rice-based systems reducing mechanical soil disturbance with a concomitant increase of soil organic matter. However, collection, analysis, and synthesis of experiences in Asia, where this technology was mainly reported, is missing in the scientific literature. This effort, presented in this review, is crucial as a starting point for establishing if PTZM experiences have improved indicators related to productivity, resource use efficiency and soil health, and C footprint and weed management to achieve Agronomic Gain.
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