Abstract
The intensity, quantity as well as capacity factors are important to predict the amount
of nutrient in soil required for maximum plant growth. Sorption isotherm considers
these three factors so believed to be one of the most important techniques in soil
which control the fate and mobility of nutrients. The field experiment was conducted
to find out site-specific and crop-specific potassium requirement for potato crop. The
potassium adsorption isotherm was constructed and Freundlich model was used to
theoretically work out different soil solution K levels (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 mg
L-1). The K fertilizer doses were calculated against these specific soil solution levels.
Field experiment was conducted with seven model based K fertilizer treatments (0,
49, 94, 139, 183, 228, and 273 kg K ha-1) and three replications in Randomized
Complete Block Design (RCBD) using potato as test crop. The results showed that
growth parameters like plant height, leaf area and chlorophyll significantly
contributed to potato tuber yield. Different yield response models were tested and it
was observed that linear plus plateau and quadratic plus plateau predicted equally well
the optimum fertilizer K rate both for yield and quality attributes of potato. For
maximum potato tuber yield i.e.34.41 Mg ha-1 the economic optimum K was 100 kg
ha-1. Optimum fertilizer K rates (at 95 % relative yield) for potato tuber yield, dry
matter percentage, protein, starch contents and vitamin C contents were 100, 103, 180,
230 and 200 kg K ha-1, respectively. So, it is suggested that adsorption isotherm
technique should be used to calculate site specific and crop specific fertilizer
requirements of crops and 100 kg ha-1 is recommended as optimum potassium
fertilizer for potato crop. Moreover, the K fertilizer application would improve crop
quality that would support the quality based marketing system in Pakistan.
Farheen Nazli, Muhammad Mazhar Iqbal, Fatima Bibi, Muhammad Ramzan Kashif, Maqshoof Ahmad. (2018) Modeling the potassium requirements of potato crop for yield and quality optimization, Asian Journal of Agriculture and Biology, Volume 6, Issue 2.
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