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

Xu, Shengtao; Zhang, Lei; McLaughlin, Neil B; Mi, Junzhen; Chen, Qin; Liu, Jinghui

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

2016

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

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