Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T22:19:39.228Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Results from experiments measuring the effects of large amounts of fertilizer and of farmyard manure on main-crop potatoes grown in sandy soil at Woburn, Bedfordshire

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

F. V. Widdowson ,
A. Penny  and
R. C. Flint
F. V. Widdowson
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts.
A. Penny
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts.
R. C. Flint
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The largest yields of potatoes in the Woburn Reference Experiment were obtained by giving both farmyard manure (FYM) and fertilizers, rather than fertilizers alone; an explanation was sought in experiments made on the coarse sandy loam there from 1968–71. Each year, single and double amounts of NPK fertilizer (supplying 250 or 500 kg N/ha plus P and K) were incorporated, either deeply or shallowly, into the seed bed. From 1969, FYM also was tested at rates giving the same amounts of N, similar amounts of K, but more P than the fertilizers; it was tested both alone and with fertilizers.

FYM was less effective than fertilizer when given alone. The combination of FYM and fertilizer gave a larger yield than the single amount of fertilizer and a larger yield than the double amount of fertilizer incorporated shallowly, but a smaller yield than the double amount of fertilizer incorporated deeply, which gave the largest yield each year.

The NPK contents of the potato tubers were used to construct nutrient balance sheets; large residues of N, P and K remained in the soil after harvest. Winter wheat was grown to value these in 1971 and 1972. Fertilizer residues increased only straw yields, but FYM residues increased yields of both grain and straw. Both kinds of residues were less effective than freshly applied N, so most of the N leached during winter.

The yield of saleable tubers was increased, not decreased, by the double amount of fertilizer.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 82 , Issue 1 , February 1974 , pp. 117 - 127
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Boyd, D. A., Hill, R. J. & Batey, T. (1968). The effect on yield of main-crop potatoes of different methods of fertiliser application. Experimental Husbandry 16, 13–20.Google Scholar
Kunkel, R. (1967). Potato growers aim for 50 tons an acre. Crops and Soils 20, 4.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1967). Fertiliser Recommendations for Agricultural and Horticultural Crops. N.A.A.S. Advisory Papers, no. 4.Google Scholar
Rodger, J. B. A. & Robertson, G. M. (1970). Effects of high levels of fertiliser on yield of potatoes grown for ware. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 75, 37–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Widdowson, F. V., Penny, A. & Williams, R. J. B. (1967). Experiments comparing the effects on yields of potatoes of three methods of applying three amounts of NPK fertiliser and the residual effects on following winter wheat. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 69, 247–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Widdowson, F. V. & Penny, A. (1972). Results from the Woburn Reference Experiment, 1960–69. Rothamsted Report for 1971, part 2, pp. 69–94.Google Scholar
Widdowson, F. V., Penny, A. & Flint, R. G. (1970). Residues of N and K used for grass in a field experiment. Rothamsted Report for 1969, part 1, pp. 47–Google Scholar