Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-vsgnj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-19T01:36:58.911Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Predicting the emergence of potato sprouts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

D. M. Firman
Affiliation:
Cambridge University Farm, Huntingdon Road, Girton, Cambridge CB3 OLH, UK
P. J. O'Brien
Affiliation:
Cambridge University Farm, Huntingdon Road, Girton, Cambridge CB3 OLH, UK
E. J. Allen
Affiliation:
Cambridge University Farm, Huntingdon Road, Girton, Cambridge CB3 OLH, UK

Summary

Sprout emergence in the potato variety Estima was investigated in controlled environment and field experiments. The effects of temperature, physiological age, planting date and soil moisture were examined in controlled environments and the results were compared with the emergence of physiologically young and old seed in field experiments with different soil types, planting dates and planting depths.

Elongation of sprouts could be described by a lag period of slow growth followed by a period of rapid linear growth. The lag period was shorter with increase in temperature up to 20 °C and sprout length at planting up to c. 10 mm. The lag period was slightly reduced by warming seed at 10 °C before planting, compared with planting seed directly from cold storage. The rate of linear growth increased with temperature up to 20 °C but was similar for young and old seed at different planting dates. The rate of growth was lower in dry soil than in soil near to field capacity, particularly at high temperatures.

The observed date of emergence in the field was usually later than predicted, particularly with shallow planting, but prediction was improved by accounting for soil moisture. The use of this model should give more accurate estimation of emergence for farm operations and crop growth models than existing equations.

Type
Crops and Soils
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Firman, D. M. (1987). Leaf growth and senescence in the potato. PhD thesis, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar
Firman, D. M., O'Brien, P. J. & Allen, E. J. (1991). Leaf and flower initiation in potato (Solanum tuberosum) sprouts and stems in relation to numbers of nodes and tuber initiation. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 117, 6174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Headford, D. W. R. (1961). Sprout growth of the potato. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.Google Scholar
Jones, J. L. & Allen, E. J. (1983). Effects of date of planting on plant emergence, leaf growth and yield in contrasting potato varieties. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 101, 8195.Google Scholar
Kruthe, N. (1962). Observations on the sprouting of seed potatoes. European Potato Journal 5, 316333.Google Scholar
Letnes, A. (1958). The effect of soil moisture on the sprouting of potatoes. European Potato Journal 1, 2732.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacKerron, D. K. L. (1984). Potato sprout emergence as a function of temperature and time from planting. In Proceedings of the 9th Triennial Conference of the European Association for Potato Research (Eds Winiger, F. A. & Stockli, Ing. A.), pp. 364365.Google Scholar
MacKerron, D. K. L. (1985). A simple model of potato growth and yield. II. Validation and external sensitivity. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 34, 285300.Google Scholar
MacKerron, D. K. L. & Waister, P. D. (1985). A simple model of potato growth and yield. I. Model development and sensitivity analysis. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 34, 241252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marshall, B., Heilbron, T. D., MacKerron, D. K. L. & Waister, P. D. (1984). Modelling potential dry-matter production. In Proceedings of the 9th Triennial Conference of the European Association for Potato Research (Eds Winiger, F. A. & Stockli, Ing. A.), pp. 340341.Google Scholar
Ross, G. J. S. (1987). MLP Manual. Oxford: Numerical Algorithms Group.Google Scholar
Sadler, E. (1961). Factors influencing the development of sprouts of the potato. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.Google Scholar
Sale, P. J. M. (1979). Growth of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) to the small tuber stage as related to soil temperature. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 30, 667675.Google Scholar
Sands, P. J. (1989). A model of the development and bulking of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum). VI. Predicting the time of emergence. Field Crops Research 20, 165174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, M. N. (1988). The control of tuber size in maincrop potatoes. PhD thesis, University of Cambridge.Google Scholar