APPLIED NITROGEN EFFECTS ON YIELD AND CRISPING QUALITY OF ´ATLANTIC´, ´BLISS´ AND ´DAWMOR´ POTATOES

The N requirements of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) ‘Bliss’ and ‘Dawmor’, selected from the Australian breeding program, were compared with the industry standard ‘Atlantic’ on two sites on loamy soils near Pemberton in the South of Western Australia in 2002-2003. An important commercial result was that both Australian varieties needed less applied N than ‘Atlantic’ to maximise yield.
For example, on site one, 200 kg N ha^-1 was needed to maximise processing yield of ‘Atlantic’ compared to 100 kg N ha^-1 for ‘Dawmor’. On site two, ‘Atlantic’ required 350-400 kg N ha^-1 for maximum processing yield compared with 100 kg N ha^-1 for ‘Bliss’ and ‘Dawmor’. Specific gravity (SG) was highest at 200 kg N ha^-1 for ‘Atlantic’ (and at 400 kg N ha^-1 for ‘Dawmor’) and lower at other rates in site one.
In site two ‘Bliss’ had a higher SG than either ‘Atlantic’ or ‘Dawmor’. The higher SG in ‘Bliss’ was associated with a higher % Ca and lower % N and NO₃-N in the tubers than the other varieties.
Differences in % K in tubers between varieties was not significant nor was % Mg concentration between ‘Atlantic’ and ‘Bliss’, which was higher than ‘Dawmor’. Higher SG in ‘Bliss’ was associated with a significantly lighter cooking colour than ‘Dawmor’ but not ‘Atlantic’. There was a higher incidence of internal brown spot and lower incidence of hollow heart in tubers of ‘Atlantic’ compared with ‘Dawmor’ in experiment one.
In experiment two the incidence of hollow heart was ranked ‘Dawmor’> ‘Bliss’ > ‘Atlantic’.

Meeting of the Physiology Section of the European Association for Potato Research

I.R. McPharlin, R.A. Lancaster

Solanum tuberosum, processing yield, specific gravity, cooking colour, hollow heart, internal brown spot, tuber nutrients

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2005.684.16