Effect of sprayer-wheel injury on the yield of potatoes

Conclusions

A comparison of yield from sprayer-wheel injured and uninjured replicates of 24 varieties of potatoes grown in 1947 in Tioga County, New York, seem to justify the following conclusions:

• 1. Under favorable conditions of high elevation, high soil fertility level, and ample rainfall for potato plant growth, yield may be reduced from 10 to more than 50 per cent by vine injury caused by sprayer and tractor wheels.

• 2. In any well planned variety test a few instances of no yield reduction from wheel injury may occur. These must be explained on the basis of experimental error, soil variability or some other influential factor not always obvious.

• 3. The extent of wheel injury to the growing potato plant does not appear to bear any significant relation to season of maturity or habit of growth of the variety.

• 4. Potato experiments and particularly potato variety yield tests should be so designed that the factor of sprayer-wheel injury can be either neutralized or taken into account in the interpretation of results.