Effects of planting depth and irrigation disruption on yield and yield components in potato (Solanum tuberosum L.)

In order to evaluate the effects of planting depth and irrigation disruption on the yield and yield components of potato, an experiment was conducted in Chaldoran West Azerbaijan Province Iran, during 2013. The experiment was carried out using factorial experiment based on randomized complete block design with three replications and two factors. The first factor was planting depth in three levels (7, 14 and 21 cm) and the second factor was considered as irrigation disruption in four levels (control, two weeks after emergence, tuber initiation and tuber bulking). The results showed that the effects of planting depth and irrigation disruption on number of tuber per plant, plant height, number of branches per plant, tuber size, mean tuber weight, and tuber yield were significant. The maximum tuber yield (30.22 ton/ha) was obtained from planting in the depth of 14 centimeter. For irrigation cut the maximum tuber yield (30.89 ton/ha) was obtained from control treatment (full irrigation) and the minimum tuber yield (17.72 ton/ha) was obtained from irrigation disruption in the stage of tuber initiation, which caused about 50%reduction of potato yield. Therefore, the stage of tuber initiation is the most sensitive stage to the drought stress. As to irrigation disruption in two weeks after emergence, potato yield reduced about 8%. Therefore, an arid area with irrigation disruption at this stage of growth can store much water for the most sensitive stage of growth to the drought stress.