The effect of foliar fertilization on yield and quality of potato cv. Desiree

摘要

The problem of supplying plants with essential nutrients elements for growth in acidic or alkali soils is of great importance for the production of field and horticultural crops. In Ninevah province, as in all potato growing areas hi Iraq, the soil pHis between 7.4 and 7.8. It is assumed that most micronutrients are unavailable for the plant. Also potatoes, a tuber crop, tends to have a high potassium requirement but the fertilizers available in Iraq do not include K in their formulae, since it is considered that Iraqi soils are rich in potassium. In consequence, it is necessary to add supplementary potassium as a foliar fertilizer. The aim of the research reported in this paper was to determine the influence of the number of sprays of foliar fertilizer on growth, yield and quality of potato cv. "Desiree", during the spring season in two locations. The results showed that plants sprayed twice with the foliar fertilizer gave the greatest number of stems/plant and of tubers/plant in both locations.Yields increased by 20.11% and 19.02% respectively. There was no significant impact of the foliar fertilizer on total soluble solids. Firmness and chlorophyll content unproved by increasing the number of applications. These results indicated clearly that under the conditions of alkali soils, potato plants needs two applications of foliar fertilizer.