Assessment of Irrigation as a Method of Managing Potato Early Dying

Abstract

Pre- and posttuber initiation irrigation treatments were evaluated for their impact on development of potato early dying symptoms in Russet Burbank potatoes grown in field microplots in northcentral Oregon. Irrigation treatments were in a factorial arrangement of three pre- and three posttuber initiation regimes across six inoculum densities of Verticillium dahliae. Microplots were drip-irrigated to provide deficit, moderate, or excessive amounts of irrigation water prior to tuber initiation, followed by all nine possible posttuber initiation combinations. Moderate irrigation was approximately equal to estimated consumptive use (ECU) by the plant; the deficit and excessive regimes were 50 and 150% of ECU, respectively [...]