The efficiency of using the substrate technological module in the technology of growing potato mini-tubers

Abstract

Known technologies and methods for obtaining virus-free potato mini-tubers of a required size fraction do not fully provide the highest multiplication factor, which occurs due to the insufficient productivity of an individual potato plant. On the basis of long-term experimental data (2012…2022), an assessment of the effectiveness of methods for growing potato mini-tubers in open and protected ground conditions is given. According to the number of tubers harvested from one plant, all growing methods can be divided into two large groups:  traditional (3-12 potatoes per plant) and modified (more than 40 potatoes per plant). A highly efficient method has been developed for obtaining mini-tubers of potatoes harvested as they grow on soil substrates with an average annual productivity of at least 50 mini-tubers from one micro-tuber and 40 mini-tubers from one virus-free plant (with traditional substrate methods – from 3 to 10 mini-tubers). Based on this method, there has been created a substrate technological module of a new generation harvesting tubers as they grow which makes it possible to obtain an average of 40 to 55 mini-tubers from one virus-free plant over the years, that is almost 10 times more in comparison with traditional methods of growing with a single harvest at the end of vegetation. Harvesting mini-tubers as they grow up to a required size creates the possibility of obtaining tubers of one size fraction (10-25 g), which allows later, when laying the nursery of the first field reproduction, to apply mechanized planting in the field and obtain uniform seedlings.