Nutritional interactions influencing diseases of potato

• Published in: American journal of potato research 2005-07, Vol.82 (4), p.309-319
• Main Authors: Lambert, D.H, Powelson, M.L, Stevenson, W.R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural practices; Agrochemicals; bacterial diseases of plants; Cost benefit analysis; crop quality; Crop rotation; crop yield; Disease; disease control; Economics; Farmworkers; Fertility; Fertilization; Food contamination; Food safety; fungal diseases of plants; Groundwater; Groundwater runoff; literature reviews; Management systems; Nutrient availability; nutrient management; nutrient-disease interactions; Nutrients; Optimization; Pesticides; Phosphorus; plant diseases and disorders; plant nutrition; plant pathogenic bacteria; plant pathogenic fungi; Potatoes; Profitability; Quality control; scab diseases; soil pH; Solanum tuberosum; System effectiveness; vegetable crops
• ISSN: 1099-209X; 1874-9380
• DOI: 10.1007/BF02871961

Nutrient management can decrease the severity of a number of important potato diseases, and certain practices, such as maintaining a low pH for scab control, have been followed for that single objective. More commonly, growers have incorporated fertility modifications into their particular disease and farming situations. Unfortunately, disease minimization may or may not be consistent with optimal fertilization for yield, quality, and profitability. Optimization for one disease may not match that for another, and the exact mechanisms involved are often complex and poorly understood. Potato growers will continue to experience conflicting production constraints. These constraints include price-driven needs for yield improvement and expense reduction; customer-driven demands for quality improvement; varietal shifts driven by the above considerations rather than by disease reduction; increasing pressure to justify, shift and reduce pesticide use; continuing concerns about nitrogen and phosphorus movement in groundwater and runoff; and increased attention to management of rotation crops.On the positive side, nutrient management strategies for highly specific situations continue to improve and practices addressing nutrient and disease variability within fields are becoming more sophisticated. In this context, there are opportunities for cultural management practices that reduce disease pressure and reliance on chemical controls. To be effectively integrated into such specialized management systems, the mechanisms of these control measures and the conditions under which they are practical will need to be better understood. Likewise, disease responses to these tactics need to be better quantified to allow an adequate cost-benefit analysis. With mounting concerns about the effects of agricultural pesticides on food safety, farm workers, and the environment, management of plant-available nutrients may become practical approaches for disease suppression in the future.