TY - JOUR

T1 - The effect of autumn ridging and inter-row subsoiling on potato tuber yield and quality on a sandy soil in Denmark

AU - Henriksen, Jens Christian Martin Bugge

AU - Mølgaard, Jens Peter

AU - Rasmussen, Jesper

PY - 2007

Y1 - 2007

N2 - Autumn ridging is a modified version of the ridge tillage system. Instead of setting up ridges during the growing season, they areestablished in autumn and left for the winter. Previous studies have documented positive effects of autumn ridging on potato yieldand we hypothesized that subsoiling could enhance these effects. To determine the effect of autumn ridging and inter-row subsoilingon potato yield and quality a field experiment was conducted on sandy soil from 2001 to 2003. Autumn ridging resulted in anaverage total and marketable tuber yield of 25.6 and 9.2 t ha1, which was not significantly different from the average total andmarketable yield of 25.6 and 8.9 t ha1 with ploughing. However, autumn ridging significantly reduced the incidence of black scurffrom 2.5% to 2.2%. Inter-row subsoiling in the growing season significantly increased marketable potato tuber yield from 8.4 to9.6 t ha1 and reduced the occurrence of malformed potatoes from 9.3% to 7.5%, irrespective of tillage treatment and irrigationlevel. There was no significant interaction between autumn ridging and subsoiling. The beneficial effect of subsoiling on marketableyield was driven by a 48.5% increase in the dry year of 2001. Subsoiling reduced the incidence of common scab from 7.8% to 6.9%when irrigation was reduced. It is concluded that at least three factors may modify the effects of subsoiling: Soil water status in thegrowing season, precipitation immediately before and after the subsoiling operation, and crop growth stage at the time of subsoiling.# 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

AB - Autumn ridging is a modified version of the ridge tillage system. Instead of setting up ridges during the growing season, they areestablished in autumn and left for the winter. Previous studies have documented positive effects of autumn ridging on potato yieldand we hypothesized that subsoiling could enhance these effects. To determine the effect of autumn ridging and inter-row subsoilingon potato yield and quality a field experiment was conducted on sandy soil from 2001 to 2003. Autumn ridging resulted in anaverage total and marketable tuber yield of 25.6 and 9.2 t ha1, which was not significantly different from the average total andmarketable yield of 25.6 and 8.9 t ha1 with ploughing. However, autumn ridging significantly reduced the incidence of black scurffrom 2.5% to 2.2%. Inter-row subsoiling in the growing season significantly increased marketable potato tuber yield from 8.4 to9.6 t ha1 and reduced the occurrence of malformed potatoes from 9.3% to 7.5%, irrespective of tillage treatment and irrigationlevel. There was no significant interaction between autumn ridging and subsoiling. The beneficial effect of subsoiling on marketableyield was driven by a 48.5% increase in the dry year of 2001. Subsoiling reduced the incidence of common scab from 7.8% to 6.9%when irrigation was reduced. It is concluded that at least three factors may modify the effects of subsoiling: Soil water status in thegrowing season, precipitation immediately before and after the subsoiling operation, and crop growth stage at the time of subsoiling.# 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

KW - Former LIFE faculty

KW - Autumn ridging; Inter-row subsoiling; Reduced irrigation; Solanum tuberosum; Black scurf; Common scab; Organic farming

U2 - 10.1016/j.still.2006.05.003

DO - 10.1016/j.still.2006.05.003

M3 - Journal article

VL - 93

SP - 309

EP - 315

JO - Soil & Tillage Research

JF - Soil & Tillage Research

SN - 0167-1987

IS - 2

ER -