August 24, 2010

Picture gallery: The world of potato

Exciting facts and figures from the world of potatoes, from A as in Agriculture, to B as in Breeding and D as in Deficiency, illustrated by a colourful new picture gallery.

 

Pictures: K+S KALI GmbH

 

Please click on the first picture and then use the arrows in the enlarged window to navigate through the picture gallery of our documentation.

Potatoes have high requirements in potassium and considering the overall nutrient uptake of the plant, potassium accounts for the highest share. However, magnesium, manganese and boron are important nutrients for increased yield and high quality, too.

 

The seed stock for early potatoes is usually pre-sprouted before being planted.

Some farmers use pre-sprouting bags (picture) – others use pre-sprouting houses or pass on pre-sprouting at all.

The potatoes are planted in spring after the „frost saints“ – some days in may, which supposedly have an increased risk of frost – because the tuber is very sensitive to frost and cold.

 

In every cropping system, potatoes are planted in hills. The planting of the seed potatoes is done by special potato planting machines.

The planting machine puts the small potato tubers at intervals of about 30 cm and in a depth of 8 to 10 cm into the soil. Then the machine covers the soil, which is well prepared until this depth and makes a hill.

Ideally, farmers and expert advisers should regularly control the soil as the potatoes have high requirements in it.

 

Potatoes grow on almost every soil. But to satisfy the constantly increasing demand in yield and quality, balanced fertilisation is necessary: Before planting the potatoes, shortly after planting them or when the potato plants are already well-developed.

The farmer should control the health of his potato plants at all times in order to be able to take necessary measures against possible deficiencies at an early stage.

However, if magnesium deficiency does occur, the first symptoms will be visible on the older leaves and later on the younger plant parts, too.

 

During the vegetation period, magnesium is taken up much later than potassium. Stress factors like cold, aridity, etc. can considerably restrict the plant’s magnesium uptake from the soil which can cause magnesium shortages and finally magnesium deficiency.

Nutrient-wise well-supplied potatoes.

Potatoes in all their glory during flowering period.

 

At the moment there exist 4.000 to 5.000 different kinds of potatoes world-wide. They have been developed due to their many different purposes of use and due to their different geographical growing areas. New and improved varieties are being constantly developed.

While our grandparents have picked up the potatoes with their hand and lots of effort, the potatoes of today are mostly harvested using technically high-developed harvesters.

In the next step, the potatoes are selected by hand. It is important that damaged tubers and tubers with obvious symptoms of a disease are sorted out. At the same time, stones are removed from the potatoes.

 

Potato delivery for processing. Potatoes are used for food products, animal feed and for the production of starch and alcohol.

Potatoes are stored in dark, well-ventilated places at five to ten degrees Celsius and about 90 percent atmospheric humidity. Moreover, a low dumping height prevents damaging marks.

A deficiency in trace elements results in yield and quality losses, too. The example shows boron deficiency.

 

Potassium deficiency can lead to black spot incidence in potatoes.

Depending on growth and market conditions, there exist a lot of diverse cultivation techniques in the whole world. (Picture: Indonesia)

In the Andes, in Central Africa and in the Himalayas, potatoes are mainly cultivated by hand. Otherwise, potato cultivation has been mechanised in most regions. (Picture: Potato harvest in Egypt)

 

A balanced nutrient supply (top left) generally ensures potato yield and quality. In this context, potassium (bottom left), magnesium (bottom right) and sulphur (top right) play an important role.

 

 

 

 

To overview The world of potato at PotatoEurope 2010

 

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