Potato Cultivar Evaluation for Phosphorus-Use Efficiency

As a non-renewable mineral resource, mineable phosphate rock will be depleted in a few decades across the world. Efficient use of phosphorus (P) becomes imperative for sustainable crop production. Use of P-efficient cultivars can lead to reduced P fertilizer consumption and is an important priority to adapt to the dwindling P resource worldwide and to sustain food security. A pot experiment was conducted at the University of Florida, IFAS Research Farm in Hastings, FL, with seven potato (Solanum tuberosum) cultivars ('Atlantic', 'Harley Blackwell', 'La Chipper', 'Marcy', 'Satina', 'Red Lasoda', and 'Yukon gold'), grown on a low P sandy soil without P application or with 59 kg ha(-1) P to compare the cultivars' ability for P utilization and mobilization. This study demonstrated that 'Harley Blackwell' and 'Satina' showed greater P mobilization ability in soils without supplemental P than the other five cultivars. 'Red Lasoda' showed greater P-utilization of bioavailable P as compared to the other cultivars. The biodiversity of potato germplasm in mobilization of insoluble phosphate and utilization of limited bioavailable P was demonstrated in this study; however, further studies are needed to evaluate this trait using a large pool of germplasm. This genetic diversity for P-use efficiency provides great opportunities for us to mitigate the potential P crisis in potato production.