Effect of synthetic and natural water‐absorbing soil amendments on photosynthesis characteristics and tuber nutritional quality of potato in a semi‐arid region

• Published in: Journal of the science of food and agriculture Vol. 96; no. 3; pp. 1010 - 1017
• Main Authors: Xu, Shengtao, Zhang, Lei, McLaughlin, Neil B, Mi, Junzhen, Chen, Qin, Liu, Jinghui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.02.2016; John Wiley and Sons, Limited
• Subjects: aboveground biomass; Agronomy; belowground biomass; Biomass; carbon dioxide; China; crop root/shoot ratio; Crops; Desert Climate; dry biomass; Drying; field experimentation; Food quality; growing season; Herbivores; Humans; humic acids; Hydroxyapatite; leaves; Nutritive Value; Photosynthesis; photosynthesis characteristics; Plant Tubers - chemistry; polyacrylamide; polyacrylic acid; potassium; Potatoes; roots; Seasons; semiarid zones; shoots; soil; Soil (material); Soil - chemistry; soil amendments; Solanum tuberosum; Solanum tuberosum - growth & development; Solanum tuberosum - metabolism; stomatal conductance; tuber nutritional quality; Underground; Water - chemistry; China; China, People's Rep; dry biomass; tuber nutritional quality; photosynthesis characteristics; crop root/shoot ratio; soil amendments
• ISSN: 0022-5142; 1097-0010
• DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.7188

BACKGROUND: The effect of water‐absorbing soil amendments on photosynthesis characteristics and tuber nutritional quality was investigated in a field experiment in a semi‐arid region in northern China in 2010–2012. Treatments included two synthetic water‐absorbing amendments, potassium polyacrylate (PAA) and polyacrylamide (PAM), and one natural amendment, humic acid (HA), both as single amendments and compound amendments (HA combined with PAA or PAM), and a no amendment control. RESULTS: Soil amendments had a highly significant effect (P ≤ 0.01) on photosynthesis characteristics, dry biomass, crop root/shoot (R/S) ratio and tuber nutritional quality. They improved both dry biomass above ground and dry biomass underground in the whole growing season by 4.6–31.2 and 1.1–83.1% respectively in all three years. Crop R/S ratio was reduced in the early growing season by 2.0–29.4% and increased in the later growing season by 2.3–32.6%. Soil amendments improved leaf soil plant analysis development value, net photosynthesis rate, stomatal conductance and transpiration rate by 1.4–17.0, 5.1–45.9, 2.4–90.6 and 2.0–22.6% respectively and reduced intercellular CO₂ concentration by 2.1–19.5% in all three years. CONCLUSION: Amendment treatment with PAM + HA always had the greatest effect on photosynthesis characteristics and tuber nutritional quality among all amendment treatments and thus merits further research. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry