Abstract
Plant density affected yield, quality and water use efficiency. Little information describing plant density to optimize yield and quality of potato production is available in the Jordan Valley. This study was aimed to investigate the effects of plant density on the yield and yield components of the potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cultivar “Spunta” grown in the middle of the Jordan Valley. Five different densities of plants (41,600 plants ha-1 (D1), 56,000 plants ha-1 (D2), 83,200 plants ha-1 (D3), 28,000 plants ha-1 (D4), and 41,600 plants ha-1 (D5) were randomly distributed over five replicate sites during the growing season from November 2013 to March 2014. Plant height, number of branches, fresh and dry weight of potato plants, tuber number, tuber weight, total yield, specific gravity and water use efficiency of potato plant grown under different plant density were measured. It was found that the productivity of potato increased with increasing plant density, with the highest total, marketable, and non-marketable yields being obtained at densities of 83,200 seeds ha-1, and the lowest occurring at 41,600 seeds ha-1, which equated to total fresh yields of 45.1 and 25.3 tons ha-1, respectively. The highest water use efficiency for marketable yield (11.9 kg m-3) was obtained at a density of 83,200 seeds ha-1, whereas the lowest water use efficiency (7.5 kg m-3) was obtained at a density of 41,600 seeds ha-1. The specific gravity ranged from 1.04 to 1.08 and the average tuber weight ranged from 77.02 g at a density of 83,200 seeds ha-1 to 115.84 g at a density of 28,000 seeds ha-1.
Highlights
Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the most important food crops in the world (Jr et al, 2013) after wheat (Triticum aestivum), rice (Oryza sativa), and corn (Zea mays) (Calabrese, 2011)
Potato is grown in two major regions in Jordan: the highland area and the Jordan Valley
It was found that plant height significantly differed between treatments, being 13% higher at a high plant density (D3, 83,200 plants ha-1) than at a low plant density (D1, 41,600 plants ha-1) when plants were grown at the same inter-row distances; and a similar trend was observed between D2 and D4, which represented different densities grown at the same inter-row distances
Summary
Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the most important food crops in the world (Jr et al, 2013) after wheat (Triticum aestivum), rice (Oryza sativa), and corn (Zea mays) (Calabrese, 2011). In Jordan, approximately 216,483 tons of potato is produced over a total area of approximately 5885 ha. Potato is grown in two major regions in Jordan: the highland area and the Jordan Valley. Vol 10, No 12; 2018 planted in potato in 2011, with a total production of 170,230 tons and an average yield of approximately 38.7 tons ha-1. In the Jordan Valley, approximately 1488.4 ha were planted in potato in 2011, with a total production of 46,253 tons and an average yield of 31.1 tons ha-1. The total area planted in potato in Jordan increased from 3500 ha in 2002 to 5885 ha in 2011, with an associated production increase from 105,300 tons to 216,483 tons
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