Abstract
Potato tuber initiation and its growth are key processes determining tuber yield, which are closely related to stolon growth, and are influenced by many factors including N nutrition. We investigated the influences of different forms of nitrogen (N) on stolon and tuber growth in sand culture with a nitrification inhibitor during 2010 – 2011, and using two potato cultivars. Plants supplied with NO3-N (N as nitrate, NO3–) produced more and thicker stolons than those supplied with NH4-N (N as ammonium, NH4+) at tuber initiation stage. In the plants fed NO3-N, the stolon tips swelled or formed tubers earlier and produced more tubers than in those fed with NH4-N. However, no significant difference was observed among N forms in terms of tuber yield at harvest, this may have been because of the shoot growth rate at tuber initiation stage was lower in the plants fed NO3-N. During the tuber bulking stage, the difference in shoot DWs among N forms began to decrease, and the shoot DW of plants fed NO3-N was even heavier than those fed NH4-N in some cases. The influence of N form on potato plant growth may therefore vary with the potato growth stage.
