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Lookup NU author(s): Gultan Hasanaliyeva, Ourania Giannakopoulou, Enas Sufar, Dr Dominika Srednicka-Tober, Dr Nikolaos Volakakis, Dr Paul BilsborrowORCiD, Dr Leo RempelosORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2024 by the authors.Modern potato varieties from high-input, conventional farming-focused breeding programs produce substantially (up to 45%) lower yields when grown in organic production systems, and this was shown to be primarily due to less efficient fertilization and late blight (Phytophthora infestans) control methods being used in organic farming. It has been hypothesized that the breeding of potato varieties suitable for the organic/low-input sector should (i) focus on increasing nutrient (especially N) use efficiency, (ii) introduce durable late blight resistance, and (iii) be based on selection under low-input conditions. To test this hypothesis, we used an existing long-term factorial field experiment (the NEFG trials) to assess the effect of crop management practices (rotation design, fertilization regime, and crop protection methods) used in conventional and organic farming systems on crop health, tuber yield, and mineral composition parameters in two potato varieties, Santé and Sarpo mira, that were developed in breeding programs for high and low-input farming systems, respectively. Results showed that, compared to Santé, the variety Sarpo mira was more resistant to foliar and tuber blight but more susceptible to potato scab (Streptomyces scabies) and produced higher yields and tubers with higher concentrations of nutritionally desirable mineral nutrients but lower concentrations of Cd. The study also found that, compared to the Cu-fungicides permitted for late blight control in organic production, application of synthetic chemical fungicides permitted and widely used in conventional production resulted in significantly lower late blight severity in Sante but not in Sarpo mira. Results from both ANOVA and redundancy analysis (RDA) indicate that the effects of climatic (precipitation, radiation, and temperature) and agronomic (fertilization and crop protection) explanatory variables on crop health and yield differed considerably between the two varieties. Specifically, the RDA identified crop protection as a significant driver for Santé but not Sarpo mira, while precipitation was the strongest driver for crop health and yield for Sarpo mira but not Santé. In contrast, the effect of climatic and agronomic drivers on tuber mineral and toxic metal concentrations in the two varieties was found to be similar. Our results support the hypothesis that selection of potato varieties under low agrochemical input conditions can deliver varieties that combine (i) late blight resistance/tolerance, (ii) nutrient use efficiency, and (iii) yield potential in organic farming systems.
Author(s): Hasanaliyeva G, Giannakopoulou O, Wang J, Baranski M, Sufar EK, Knutt D, Gilroy J, Shotton P, Leifert H, Srednicka-Tober D, Cakmak I, Ozturk L, Zhao B, Iversen PO, Volakakis N, Bilsborrow P, Leifert C, Rempelos L
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Agronomy
Year: 2025
Volume: 15
Issue: 1
Print publication date: 01/01/2025
Online publication date: 31/12/2024
Acceptance date: 20/12/2024
Date deposited: 03/02/2025
ISSN (electronic): 2073-4395
Publisher: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy15010089
DOI: 10.3390/agronomy15010089
Data Access Statement: Data are available from Leonidas Rempelos upon reasonable request.
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