The Role of Iron and Zinc on Tuber Yield and Yield Components of Potato

Subject Areas : Journal of Crop Ecophysiology

Elham Jam ¹ , Ali Ebadie ² , Gasem Parmoon ³

1 - MSc. Graduated of Agronomy, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Ardabil, Iran
2 - Associate Professor, Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili
3 - PhD Student of Crop Physiology, Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Mohaghegh Ardabili

Received: 2014-01-03 Accepted : 2015-05-27 Published : 2015-07-23

Keywords: Performance, Zinc, Potatoes, Iron, micronutrient elements,

Abstract :

The soils of potato production fields in Ardabil due to alkalinity and not having a proper crop rotations are deficient in micronutrients. To evaluate the effect of these micronutrients on the yield and some traits affecting potato tubers an experiment was conducted in a complete randomized block design with three replications in Ardabil during 2012. Micronutrient treatments used were the various concentrations of iron and zinc (0.002, 0.004 and 0.008 concentrations of these elements as Fe1Zn1, Fe1Zn2, Fe1Zn3, Fe2Zn1, Fe2Zn2, Fe2Zn3, Fe3Zn1 and Fe3Zn2) and a control treatment (Fe0Zn0). Analysis of variance of traits under study showed statistically significant differences among treatments in terms of tuber yield, number of tubers per plant, tuber size, skin thickness and volumetric weight and dry weight of tubers. The highest tuber yield (48.10 t.ha-1) and maximum skin thickness were obtained from Fe1Zn3 treatment. The highest tuber number belonged to Fe2Zn1 (0.004 and 0.002 concentrations of iron and zinc) and Fe1Zn3 (0.002 and 0.008 concentrations of iron and zinc). Tuber weights higher than 35 grams and higest volumetric tuber weight were produced by using Fe3Zn2. The conclusion is this that using Fe1Zn3 traetment (0.002 and 0.008 concentrations) resulted in highest tuber yield and thickness of tuber skin.