Combined Effects of Tillage and Fertilization Sources on Soil Characteristics and Tuber Yield of Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) in a Mediterranean Environment
Author(s)
Date Issued
2025
Type
article
Abstract
Soil tillage practices and fertilization are the backbones of potato crop production system. Sustainable agricultural practices
are essential for enhancing potato production in the Mediterranean environment and addressing the food security
challenges. The main goal of research is to evaluate the efficacy of different soil tillage practices in combination with
different fertilization sources on two potato genotypes to enhance plant growth, yield, disease resistance, and soil characteristics
in the Mediterranean environment over the period of two consecutive years. Three tillage practices were adopted:
plowing as conventional tillage, subsoiling, and spading as conservation tillage. Two fertilization treatments included
mineral and organic fertilization. The two potato varities cultivated were Levante and Agata. The total soil nitrogen (TN)
percentage in the soil increased to 0.16% under subsoiling with organic fertilization, followed by improvements in total
carbon percentage and carbon-to-nitrogen (C/N) ratio. However, these practices did not significantly impact potato yield.
The highest yield of commercial tubers was observed with plowing (27.3 n. m− 2) and mineral fertilization (25.3 n. m− 2).
For seed tubers, spading tillage (34.1 n. m− 2) and organic fertilization (33.8 n. m− 2) were effective in improving both yield
and quality. The Levante potato variety, The 4th International Electronic Conference on Agronomy showed resistance to
early blight (Alternaria spp.) and root rot (Sclerotium rolfsii), in contrast to the Agata variety. Implementing conservation
tillage practices combined with organic fertilization and disease resistant potato varieties may enhance sustainability in
potato production in Mediterranean environments.