Agronomic and Economic Interactions between Sidedressed Nitrogen and Potassium Fertilizations on ‘Atlantic’ Potato

Abstract

Nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) in potato crop planting synergistically increase tuber yield, but there are no studies on this interaction in sidedressing. In two experiments with 'Atlantic' potato combinations of four N rates (0, 50, 100, and 150 kg ha-1) with four K2O rates (0, 100, 200, and 300 kg ha-1) were applied in sidedressing in a 4×4 factorial scheme with three replications in a completely randomized design. Adjacent commercial fields were sampled to economic comparisons with experimental results. Significant interaction between N and K sidedressing rates with tuber yields increase also was confirmed and classified as Liebigsynergism. Compared to the isolated N and K applications in sidedressing, joint N and K fertilizations, respectively, increases by 11% and 48% marketable tuber yields in the summer-fall experiment, and 12% and 7% in the spring experiment. Joint N and K applications as sidedressing was more profitable than planting fertilization, mainly at higher N and K rates. The response of specific gravity of 'Atlantic' potato tubers to the N and K sidedressing rates was mediated by interactions between edaphoclimatic conditions and inputs of N and K. The combined application of N and K sidedressing rates increased specific gravity in the summerfall experiment, but had a negative effect in the spring experiment. Therefore, our results provide strong evidence that the fertilization management for potato crop in Brazil can be modified by applying higher amounts of N and K in sidedressing to match nutritional needs of the crop.

Impacts of Nitrogen Sources and Rates on Soil Chemical Attributes and Potato Nutrition and Yield in a Subtropical Environment

“…Each plot was composed of four 5-m-long rows spaced by 0.8 m, where the area corresponding to the two centermost rows less than 0.5 m from each end was used for plant and soil evaluations to avoid the border effect. The furrows were mechanically opened with a furrower, and the planting fertilizers were applied manually and incorporated into the furrows in all plots with a hoe at an average depth of 0.15 m. The simple superphosphate fertilizer and the multinutrient formula in the same granule (YaraBasa® Soberano™) containing 6% N, 12% P, 5% K, 8% Ca, 8.4% S, 0.03% B, 0.05% Mn, and 0.1% Zn were mixed for initial fertilization, providing 40 kg N ha − 1 , 183 kg P ha − 1 , 33 kg K ha − 1 , 349 kg Ca ha − 1 , 218 kg S ha − 1 , 0.201 kg B ha − 1 , 0.335 kg Mn ha − 1 , and 0.670 kg Zn ha − 1 according to the results of chemical soil analyses (Table 1), recommendations for potato cultivation (Soratto et al 2016; NEPAR-SBCS 2017), meeting the demands of S by potato plants (Souza et al 2019), and transferring the amounts of K to be applied from planting to sidedressing prior to hilling along with N fertilization (Yagi et al 2020). Thus, along with the studied N treatments, 91 kg K ha − 1 (KCl, 50% K) was also applied in sidedressing in all plots, according to regional recommendations (NEPAR-SBCS 2017).…”

“…The application of granulated ammonium nitrate during preplanting, of nitrate, urea or liquid ammonium during the initiation of potato tubers (Zotarelli et al 2014;Rens et al 2016), of granulated ammonium nitrate dissolved in water for drip irrigation according to nutritional demands (Makani et al 2020) and of urea divided into four applications during the crop cycle (Liu et al 2021) are examples of N management with sources, rates and application times of N in subtropical sandy soils in the Northern Hemisphere. In Brazil, sidedressing N fertilization for potato crops is usually carried out immediately before the hilling operation, approximately 30 days after planting (DAP) (Souza et al 2019;Yagi et al 2020), and urea or ammonium sulfate (AMS) is commonly used (Souza et al 2019;Fernandes et al 2021). Fertilizer incorporation into the soil by adding N fertilizers with or without other nutrients, such as potassium (K) and chlorine (Cl), is a common practice in Brazil and can affect both the dynamics and the availability of the main inorganic forms of N, as well as the soil chemical attributes of the ridge microenvironment.…”

Fertilization management strategies for ‘Agata’ potato production

“…Further, the chlorine (Cl) uptake by plants (Pauletti & Menarim, 2004) also reduces the uptake of some nutrients, such as P (Berger et al, 1961), calcium (Ca), and magnesium (Mg) (Job et al, 2019), in addition to reducing the yield and the percentage of dry matter (DM) in the tubers (Pauletti & Menarim, 2004). Thus, the splitting of KCl fertilization between planting and sidedressing, together with nitrogen (N) fertilization, has been suggested to increase tuber yield in relation to N and K applications only in the planting furrow (Cardoso et al, 2007;Yagi et al, 2020). However, in clayey soils, the splitting of K fertilization did not affect the marketable and total tuber yield of cultivar Agata, regardless of the exchangeable K concentration in the soil (Job et al, 2019).…”

“…In order to reduce the rates of N and K, while maintaining the P rates in the planting furrow, and aiming to decrease production costs and increase the yield and profitability of the potato crop, fertilization strategies based on the use of more concentrated formulas (Yagi et al, 2019), associated with the application of N and K at sidedressing (Yagi et al, 2020), have also been studied. The exclusive use of monoammonium phosphate (MAP) at planting, as a source of more soluble P for potato plants, transferring the application of KCl to applications in the post-planting phase and/or in sidedressing together with N fertilization, can also favor plant nutrition, increase yield, and improve the quality of 'Agata' potato tubers.…”

Gelling Agents and Partial Agar Replacement In Vitro for Production of Potato Plants

“…Cultivar 'Markies' meets these requirements, possessing culinary properties for cooking and frying [2,3]. Another potato cultivar widely planted for chip processing industries in Brazil is 'Atlantic' [4,5].…”