The Role of Microbiological Fertilizers and Green Manures in Increasing the Productivity and Quality of Potatoes

Abstract

This paper presents the research results of three short-term experiments carried out in 2010–2017 on the impact of green manures and mineral and bacterial fertilizers on potato productivity. The purpose of the study was to increase the productivity and quality of potato tubers while reducing the anthropogenic load on the agrocenosis through the integrated use of binary green manures and lower doses of mineral fertilizers in combination with microbiological preparations. In a stationary field experiment (2010–2012) on leached chernozem, the maximum potato productivity (32.2–35.5 t/ha) was obtained using mineral fertilizers N_45–90P_60–120K_60–120 in the crop rotation link oil radish + vetch–potato, while the efficiency of the treatment of tubers with the bacterial preparations Azotovit + Fosfatovit was 9.2–15.0%. In experiments on sod-podzolic soil, the yield increase from the microbiological preparation Agrinos for the potato cultivar Udacha in 2015 amounted to 12.4% along with higher content of starch and vitamin C in production. In the relatively moist 2016 and 2017, the yield increase in the midearly maturing cultivar Gala reached 8.5 t/ha or 24.5% to the mineral background level (N₉₀P₉₀K₉₀). In the variant with a 30% reduced NPK dose and the use of Agrinos (N₆₀P₆₀K₆₀ + Agrinos A + B (5 + 2.5 L/ha), the yield was 5.8 t/ha or 16.7% higher than with the full dose of NPK, and high starchiness and vitamin C content, excellent culinary qualities, and low levels of nitrates were also observed.