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.
Highlights
Potassium (K), which accumulates to 10% of plant dry weight (Adams and Shin, 2014), has many functions in plant growth, such as the smooth progression of cell division and growth (Anschütz et al, 2014), leaf expansion and root elongation (Jordan-Meille and Pellerin, 2004; Song et al, 2017), transportation of carbohydrates, disease resistance and drought tolerance (Saha et al, 2016)
There were significant increases in K uptake efficiency in the KL treatment compared with the KH treatment
The average yield of the 20 potato genotypes was reduced by 16.4% in the KL treatment compared with the KH treatment
Summary
Potassium (K), which accumulates to 10% of plant dry weight (Adams and Shin, 2014), has many functions in plant growth, such as the smooth progression of cell division and growth (Anschütz et al, 2014), leaf expansion and root elongation (Jordan-Meille and Pellerin, 2004; Song et al, 2017), transportation of carbohydrates, disease resistance and drought tolerance (Saha et al, 2016). The fraction of soil K that can be absorbed directly by plants is generally quite low (0.1- 0.2%) because most soil K forms insoluble complexes. Received in revised form: 19 Feb 2021. From Volume 49, Issue 1, 2021, Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca journal will use article numbers in place of the traditional method of continuous pagination through the volume. The journal will continue to appear quarterly, as before, with four annual numbers
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