New national potato genotypes: yield response to different doses of 4-14-8 NPK fertilizer

Abstract

The fertilization of potato crops generally does not take into account the genotype, although genotypes may respond differently to fertilization. This study aimed to determine the yield of new potato genotypes (cultivar BRS Camila and clone CL 02-05), as well as the cultivar Ágata, submitted to four NPK 4-14-8 fertilizer doses (0, 2, 4 and 6 t ha-1) in the crop seasons of 2013/14 and 2014/15. We evaluated the total and marketable tuber yield, total and marketable tuber number, percentage of marketable tuber dry weight, average marketable tuber weight and plant growth period. The experimental design was randomized blocks in split plot scheme, with fertilizer doses allocated as main plots and genotypes as subplots, with three replications. We did not observe significant interaction for any analyzed variable. The clone CL 02-05 showed higher total and marketable tuber yield compared to the other cultivars, mainly due to its higher production of tuber number. However, we observed a high amount of tubers not suited for commercialization from the clone CL 02-05. Cultivar BRS Camila produced fewer marketable tubers than cultivar Ágata in crop season 2014/15, but without difference in marketable yield. On the other hand, plants of cultivar BRS Camila had a longer growth period of 7 days and the tubers of this cultivar accumulated higher percentage of dry weight compared to cultivar Ágata. The new tested genotypes had yield response similar to cultivar Ágata when submitted to doses of 4-14-8 NPK fertilizer. Therefore, the fertilization management of these new genotypes may be similar to that used with cultivar Ágata.