Effects of drip irrigation regimes on potato tuber yield and quality

To evaluate the effects of drip irrigation regimes on potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) tuber yield and quality, an experiment was conducted in 2009 and 2010. Experimental factors were the irrigation regimes including: FI, providing 100% of the water requirement of potato; IR1, providing 70% of the water requirement of potato by reducing the applied irrigation water between planting and tuber initiation by 30%; and IR2, providing 70% of the water requirement of potato by reducing the applied irrigation water during the whole growing season by 30%; and three potato cultivars Agria, Almera and Sinora. The results indicated that cultivars Agria and Almera were much better than Sinora in terms of tuber yield under all irrigation regimes. For Agria and Almera, the experiments show that the full irrigation regime had the highest yield and water productivity. For Sinora, however, deficit irrigation yields higher water productivity than the full irrigation regime. Consequently, deficit irrigation IR1 and IR2 should be applied to Sinora, but not to Agria and Almera.