Comparing the productivity of potato plants when growing mini-tubers in the conditions of air hydroponics and in the pots with soil substrate

Abstract

The article provides the results of comparative tests on growing mini-tubers of potato in greenhouse culture using the pots with soil substrate and in the conditions of air hydroponics without hard substrates by treatment of root system with water-air nutrient mixture. The results of field testing of seed qualities of mini-tubers obtained by various methods are given. The experiments were carried out in Moscow region in potato varieties Fioletovy and Severnoe siyanie. On the basis of the research, it has been established that using the method of obtaining mini-tubers in the conditions of air hydroponics it is possible to increase the seed reproduction coefficient raising the quantitative characteristics of the yield. When growing in the conditions of air hydroponics in the Severnoe siyanie variety there was recorded two time increase of reproduction coefficient and obtained 19.2 mini-tubers per plant. At the same time, in greenhouse culture the average yield was 9.2 mini-tubers per plant. In Fioletovy variety, the reproduction coefficient in air hydroponic plants was 1.8 times higher than in greenhouse culture, 29.1 and 16.1 mini-tubers per plant, respectively. In the yield of greenhouse mini-tubers there were no seeds of small fractions, while in air hydroponic parts there were 25 % of them in Severnoe siyanie variety and 19 % in Fioletovy one. The number of fractions of large seeds more than 30 mm in size was much higher in greenhouse parts than in air hydroponic ones, 49.9 % against 1.82 % in Severnoe siyanie variety and 38.5 % against 1.3 % in Fioletovy variety. By comparative field tests of plants obtained from seed greenhouse and air hydroponic mini-tubers there has not been established significant differences in their yield and reproduction coefficient.