Biostimulators as a factor affecting the yield of edible potato

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of biostimulators on the yield of three edible potato varieties. The field experiment was carried out in a split-plot design with three replicates. The examined factors were: I – three varieties of edible potato: Honorata, Jelly, Tajfun, and II – five ways of using biostimulators: control (without biostimulators), Kelpak SL® biostimulator, Titanit®, GreenOk®, BrunatneBio Złoto®. The biostimulators used in the experiment caused an increase of yields (on average by 1,6 t ha –1 ) in comparison to the control plot. With unfavourable weather conditions, unfavourable for the yielding of potatoes, after the application of the biostimulators a higher yield was obtained, by 1.2 t ha –1 , than in favourable weather conditions. The biostimulator BrunatneBio Złoto caused a significant increase in the yield and had an effect on the structure of potato tuber yield in comparison to the control treatment. The varieties grown differed in terms of the level of yields. Variety Jelly produced the highest yield (an average of 51.05 t ha –1 ) and was characterised by a higher share of large tubers in the total yield of tubers than varieties Tajfun and Honorata. The highest yields and percentage share of large bulbs were obtained in weather conditions of 2017, and in other years yields were lower, on average by 1.1-1.2 t ha –1 .

Keywords

• potato
• cultivars
• biostimulators
• yield of tubers