•
POTATONUTRITION
•
THE
VEGETABLE
FARMER •
MARCH 2017
B
eginningwith an
overview of the
legislative and
commercial framework to
potato crop nutrition, the
session quickly progressed on
to sources of information,
nutrient supply from the soil
andmaximizing the benefits
of organic amendments before
moving on to the practicalities
of making fertilizer
recommendations.
Course trainer, Dr Marc
Allison – senior NIAB CUF
researcher – said; “you can’t
think of nutrition in isolation
from other cropmanagement
decisions. We sell marketable
yield, not total yield, sowe
need to look at crop nutrition
in the context of other
decisions.”
He went on to explains that
to produce the largest
financial return per hectare it
is important to focus on
quality, encompassing areas
such as grading, dry matter
(DM) content, pathology,
bruising, fry colour and
storability.
Outlining the key priorities
for potato production and
nutrient management, Dr
Allison said it had to be
achievedwithminimum cost
and environmental damage
while being legal and
compliant with end user
requirements.
“While there are plenty of
sources of data, it is important
to be critical and skeptical
before basing decisions on it,”
warned Dr Allison. He went on
to explain that issues can arise
through flawed experimental
design, concluding that data
from some poorly designed
experiments has, and
continues to, shape nutrient
recommendations.
Even though there is a
downward overall trend in
phosphate applied to UK
maincrop potatoes, growers
still apply twice as much as is
removed by the crop -
therefore, phosphate levels in
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GETTING TO THE
NUB OF POTATO
NUTRITION
In January
Sue Jupe
joined agronomists and growers at
an Agri-tech Register and Training for Innovation and
Skills (ARTIS) course entitled ‘Understanding and
optimizing potato nutrition’. Held at the ARTIS Hub− at
Hasse Fen near Soham in Cambridgeshire− the intensive
course covered a lot of theoretical and practical ground in
just three hours.
Dr Marc Allison - senior NIAB CUF researcher.
