Optimization of Organic Potato Cultivation Technology with due Account for Changing Weather Conditions on Northern Territories

Abstract

The research aimed developing a cultivation method of organic potato in the northern territories. The field experiment with Udacha potato variety was a part of the crop rotation started on experimental facilities of IEEP. The test field had a soddy-podzolic, light loamy, gleyic soil on residual carbonate moraine loam with neutral reaction and high organic matter content (6-8%). The experiment tested an organic potato cultivation technology developed in IEEP. It included application of one or two doses (from 60 to 160 kg N/ha) of BIAGUM compost, prepared from poultry manure in a fermenter in the Institute, and polyfunctional biologic Kartofin. An automatic station recorded weather conditions. They differed by the experiment years (2019-2023). The driest summer period was in 2021. The dependence of nitrification rate on the air temperature and precipitation for the period from the end May to end June was found statistically reliable. Potato productivity depended on weather conditions too. The greatest compost dose resulted the greatest yield (above or about 30 t/ha) in 2019, 2020 and 2023. The study established statistically reliable dependence of the standard tuber yield on the soil nitrate content, compost application dose and hydrothermal coefficient in some summer months. Biologic Kartofin was most efficient against a complex of fungal diseases.