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A preliminary diagnosis and recommendation integrated system (DRIS) model for diagnosing the nutrient status of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas)

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Abstract

Critical leaf nutrient concentrations have often been used to diagnose the nutritional causes of crop underperformance. Unfortunately, these diagnostic criteria are not available for mature, tuber-bearing sweet potato plants (the word ‘tuber’ being used to describe a swollen root rather than a swollen stem). The Diagnosis and Recommendation Integrated System (DRIS), however, provides a reliable means of linking leaf nutrient concentrations to the yield of sweet potato tubers, and may be developed for this crop using existing data from regional crop surveys. In the present study, tuber yield and leaf nutrient concentration data from a survey of sweet potato gardens conducted in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) highlands in 2005 were used to establish DRIS N, P, K, and S norms and statistical parameters for sweet potato. Although the database was relatively small, the norms derived for nutrient ratios of key biological significance, i.e. N/S and K/N, were within the expected narrow ranges for higher plants, giving credibility to both the database and the DRIS model. Data from future surveys and field trials may subsequently be used to enlarge the database allowing the refinement of model parameters and hopefully an expansion of diagnostic scope to include other macro and micro-nutrients. As it stands, though, this preliminary DRIS model for sweet potato is possibly the best diagnostic tool currently available for evaluating the N, P, K and S statuses of sweet potato crops in the pacific region.

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Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank and pay tribute to all the scientists and technicians involved in the ACIAR funded survey of sweet potato gardens in the PNG highlands entitled: ‘Analysis of biophysical and socio-economic constraints to soil fertility management in the PNG highlands’ (SMCN/2005/043), and Kud Sitango and Rainer Ratsch for providing a photograph of sweet potato on mounds.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI), Highlands Programme, Aiyura, P.O. Box 384, Kainantu, Eastern Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea

    A. Ramakrishna & J. S. Bailey

  2. The University of Queensland, School of Land and Food Sciences, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia

    G. Kirchhof

Authors
  1. A. Ramakrishna
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  2. J. S. Bailey
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  3. G. Kirchhof
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Correspondence to J. S. Bailey.

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Responsible Editor: N. Jim Barrow.

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Ramakrishna, A., Bailey, J.S. & Kirchhof, G. A preliminary diagnosis and recommendation integrated system (DRIS) model for diagnosing the nutrient status of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas). Plant Soil 316, 107–116 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-008-9763-5

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