Screening high potassium efficiency potato genotypes and physiological responses at different potassium levels

Abstract

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) growth and production is highly dependent on potassium (K) levels in the soil. Southwest China is the largest potato production region but it has low availability of soil potassium. To assess the genetic variation in K use efficiency, 20 potato genotypes were collected to compare the yield and K content in a pot experiment. Moreover, ‘Huayu-5’ and ‘Zhongshu-19’ were cultivated in five K applications to investigate the K distribution and sucrose in different organs. The results indicated that there were highly significant effects of K, genotype and K×G interactions on tuber yield, plant and tuber K content, plant K uptake efficiency and K harvest index. Cluster analysis classified 20 potato genotypes into four types: DH (high efficiency at low and high K application), LKH (high efficiency at low K application), HKH (high efficiency at high K application) and DL (low efficiency at low and high K application). The potassium distribution percentage in the tubers of the potassium-efficient genotype was higher than that of the potassium-inefficient genotype under low potassium application. The sucrose content in the tuber gently declined as the application of K rose in both cultivars, and that in the tuber of ‘Huayu-5’ was higher than that in ‘Zhongshu-19’. ‘Huayu-5’ reached the highest yield when the potassium application was 159.45 kg ha-1, and ‘Zhongshu-19’ reached the highest yield when the potassium application was 281.4 kg ha-1. This study indicated that genetic variation for K utilization efficiency existed among 20 genotypes, and yield in low K application and relative yield were suitable criteria for screening K utilization efficiency genotypes.

Response of Cigar Tobacco Varieties to Potassium Stress and Dissecting Biochemical Determinants of Low Potassium Tolerance Mechanism

“…Potassium content ≥ 2% can maintain good ammability of tobacco leaves, and lower potassium content is an important factor restricting tobacco quality (Vann et al 2013). Potassium e cient plants can exhibit higher nutrient utilization rates than potassium sensitive plants in the same environment (Zhenpeng et al 2021). Therefore, it can be seen that evaluating the tolerance to low potassium of cigar tobacco and selecting low potassium-tolerant cigar tobacco varieties are of great signi cance for improving and developing cigar quality, increasing potassium utilization and saving limited potassium resources.…”