Water and fertilizer use efficiency of potato under different irrigation patterns in North Yin Mountain Region

Improving Potato Yield, Water Productivity and Nitrogen Use Efficiency by Managing Irrigation Based on Potato Root Distribution

“…In this study, potato rooting in this region was systematically observed. Results showed that potato roots penetrated deeper in the soil in Inner Mongolia than elsewhere (Ahmadi et al, 2008;Iwama, 2008;Munoz-Arboleda et al, 2006;Stalham & Allen, 2001), which could be related to soil texture (Qin et al, 2013). The results also indicated that potato root distribution in the soil at different growth stages varied greatly, with about 22% of roots distributed in 30-50 cm soil at tuber bulking stage, which was about twice that at tuber formation stage, while at the seedling stage, no root could reach the depth of 30-50 cm (Fig.…”

“…In Inner Mongolia potato production region, the soil texture is mainly sandy with low water holding capacity (Qin et al, 2013), and N leaching has always been the most important cause of low nitrogen use efficiency (Hu et al, 2012;Qin et al, 2013;Yang et al, 2018). Our results showed that residual N in deeper soil under T2 was much less than that under T1 although the same total amount of water was used in each (Table 2, Fig.…”

“…In addition, due to over irrigation in potato production, there has been significant increase in the leaching of nitrogen fertilizer into deep soil layer, rendering it unavailable for uptake by potato roots, therefore nitrogen fertilizer use efficiency dropped from 45% in the 1950s to less than 20% nowadays (Chen et al, 2012), resulting in more fertilizer being used in potato production. More than 17% of N fertilizer supplied to potato fields was lost via leaching in the region, causing greater environmental risk since nitrate concentration in groundwater near potato farmland could reach 87.4 mg/L, far exceeding the threshold of China's drinking water standard of 20 mg/L (Qin et al, 2013;Yang et al, 2018).…”