Fertigation improves potato production in Inner Mongolia (China)

ABSTRACT

Inner Mongolia ranks number one in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) production in China; however, water-use (WUE) and fertilizer-use efficiencies (FUE) in potato production are lower in this region than those in developed countries, even lower than the average levels in China because of poor management of water and fertilizer by local farmers. Fertigation has been shown to significantly improve both WUE and FUE in developed countries. The aim of this work was to test how much fertigation could improve WUE and FUE relative to potato production in Inner Mongolia. The results from field experiments at different sites showed that, compared with the conventional cultivation based on flood irrigation, drip fertigation not only improved WUE and nitrogen-use efficiency in potato production system 1.4–2.0 fold and 20%–35%, respectively, without yield loss, but also increased proportion of commercial potato tuber by about 28%. Thus, we suggest the use of drip fertigation for potato production in Inner Mongolia, where water resources are limited.

KEYWORDS:

• Nutrient-use efficiency
• root and tuber crops
• Solanum tuberosum
• water-use efficiency

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [31360502, 31460321] and the Innovation Team of Universities in Inner Mongolia of China [NMGIRT-A1602].