Tuber yield and irrigation water productivity in early potatoes as affected by irrigation regime
Highlights
► We studied irrigation regime in potato, which in turn enabled making savings in water. ► Tuber yield, quality and irrigation water productivity were influenced by irrigation regimes. ► Yield performances irrigating up to 50% of tuber growth and throughout the cycle were similar. ► It was possible to make savings in irrigation water of roughly 77 mm year−1.
Introduction
In recent decades, water resource managers have faced difficulties in satisfying the multiple and ever-growing water demands of semi-arid areas. This is particularly true in the Mediterranean basin, where an increase in irrigation acreage and intensity has been accompanied by a decrease in available water resources due to demographic growth and concurrence with development-related activities (Hamdy et al., 1998). Since agriculture is the major water user, its efficient use is needed to conserve this limited resource. In order to sustain agricultural production, a more rational agricultural water use is required, particularly in areas where the current irrigation systems and practices are highly inefficient. Irrigation management is an attractive opportunity to alleviate water scarcity in the Mediterranean basin, since the strategy requires no new infrastructure.
Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) rates fourth among the world's agricultural products in terms of production volume, after wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), rice (Oryza sativa L.) and corn (Zea mays L.) (Fabeiro et al., 2001). It is a temperate crop, growing and yielding well in cool and humid climates or seasons, but it is also cultivated in tropical to sub-polar climatic regions, and represents a major food crop in many countries (Shalhevet et al., 1983). Among the many environmental factors affecting yield, water supply is a major limiting factor in the production and quality of potatoes. The potato is known to be sensitive to water deficit (Harris, 1978, Lynch et al., 1995, Shock et al., 1998, Fabeiro et al., 2001). To obtain high yields, the soil water content should be no lower than 50% of maximum available water in the root zone, especially during tuber formation (Harris, 1978). Even slight water stress causes a reduction in number of leaves, leaf size, canopy radiation interception and photosynthesis, and consequently affects the number, size and the percentage of marketable tubers (van Loon, 1981, Fabeiro et al., 2001, Hassanpanah, 2010).
In the Mediterranean Basin, potato production occupies an overall area of about 1 million ha and produces 28 million t of tubers (FAO, 2010). In several countries such as Tunisia, Egypt, Cyprus, Israel, Lebanon, Turkey and southern Italy, potatoes are grown not only in the usual cycle (spring-summer) but also in the winter–spring cycle (planting from November to January and harvesting from March to early June) for early production. Early potatoes, defined as “potatoes harvested before they are completely mature, marketed immediately after harvesting and whose skin can be easily removed without peeling” (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe of Geneva, Fresh Fruit and Vegetables 30/2001), are highly appreciated and mainly exported to northern European countries, with considerable profit (Ierna, 2010).
Potatoes grown for early production are also particularly sensitive to water stress, which adversely influences not only tuber yield but also earliness (Foti et al., 1995, Ierna and Mauromicale, 2006, Ierna et al., 2011). In the Mediterranean coastal regions, irrigation is fundamental for high early potato yield. Indeed, the crop is planted during winter months when rainfall usually exceeds evaporation, but in the successive stages of growth of the aerial part and of tubers from the end of winter to the whole of spring, the rainfall decreases while evapotranspiration and temperatures increase, thus causing substantial soil water deficits. Therefore, early potato cultivation in this region usually resorts to irrigation throughout the spring, coinciding with the phase of tuber bulking and growth. However, water management within the Mediterranean region is carried out empirically and is thus characterized by a certain variability in relation to the amount of rainfall, its distribution and the hydraulic characteristics of the soil. Where irrigation is used systematically, the amount of water supplied, the number of waterings and timing between waterings may differ from one season to another (Foti, 1999). As a rule, roughly 50% of crop water requirements are satisfied by irrigation and the remaining by rainfall; nonetheless, excessive water inputs (up to 250–300 mm per crop season) distributed by as many as 15 waterings are also common due to inefficient irrigation methods (furrow, macro-sprinklers).
For best yields, an adequate supply of water is required at all times but moisture stress during tuber initiation and bulking periods reduces yields more than at any other period (Doorenbos and Kassam, 1979, van Loon, 1981, Jefferies and Mackerron, 1993).
Considering the decisive role of irrigation water in early potato production and its expense and limited supply in the semi-arid areas of the Mediterranean basin, important contributions may be provided by better irrigation management and/or irrigation technologies, which facilitate efficient and effective use of available water resources. Research carried out in Mediterranean area (Foti et al., 1995, Karafyllidis et al., 1996, Fabeiro et al., 2001, Onder et al., 2005, Ierna and Mauromicale, 2006, Ierna et al., 2011) has highlighted that a constant and adequate water supply is required from tuber initiation until near maturity for high yields and good grade and quality.
One way of reducing water applications is to limit applications to the drought-sensitive growth stage of a crop (deficit irrigation) (Geerts and Raes, 2009). Deficit irrigation is successful in increasing water productivity without causing severe yield reductions for various crops, including potato (Fabeiro et al., 2001, Shock and Feibert, 2002, Liu et al., 2006, Unlu et al., 2006). However, the effective use of deficit irrigation requires a prior and precise knowledge of crop response to drought stress, as drought tolerance varies considerably with genotype and phenological stage. This prompted us to conceive of a water management strategy that might more readily be used by farmers than the classic deficit irrigation, since it is based on the distribution of irrigation water in certain periods of the productive cycle that are readily determined by the farmer by observing the tubers.
The aim of the present work was to evaluate the effects of irrigation regime on (a) tuber yield and yield components; (b) productive efficiency of irrigation water; (3) source/sink ratio (4) dry matter content of tubers of two potato cultivars grown in two planting periods with a view to reducing water irrigation supply with a minimum of yield loss under Mediterranean climatic conditions.
Section snippets
Site, climate and soil
Experiments were conducted during 2005 and 2006 at the experimental field of the Strategic Field Crops Section of I.S.A.Fo.M. – CNR (National Research Council of Italy) on the coastal plain, south of Siracusa (37°03′ N, 15°18′ E, 15 m a.s.l.). This is a typical area for off-season potato cultivation in Sicily. The climate is semi-arid Mediterranean, with mild winters, and commonly rainless springs. Frost occurrence is virtually unknown (two events in 30 years). During the potato crop season for
Soil water content
Soil water content at planting was 19.8% and 19.4% in the first and in the second planting date and 19.3% in the second year, respectively (data not shown).
In the first year, soil water content at harvest was influenced by irrigation regime and by interaction planting date × irrigation regime (Table 3); in the second year by irrigation regime (Table 4). In the first planting date of the first year and in the second year, soil water content at harvest was highest in I1, the lowest in I0,
Discussion
Under the specific conditions of these experiments, the study clearly demonstrates that there was a strong and significant effect of the irrigation regime on tuber yield, IWP, source/sink relationships and dry matter content of tubers. Irrigation with 100% ETm supply alomg the whole cycle (I1) gave the highest yields, whereas plots irrigated only at plant emergence (I0) with respect to the last treatment led to a drastic reduction in yield equal to about 40%. Similar yield reductions, passing
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