Some effects of planting density and variety on the relationship between tuber size and tuber dry-matter percentage in potatoes

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Abstract
Summary: Three experiments are reported which investigated the effects of planting density and variety on the relationship between tuber dry-matter percentage and tuber size. In the first experiment dry-matter determinations were made on samples of tubers less than 3·8 cm and greater than 3·8 cm from different planting densities obtained at eight fortnightly harvests. Standard analysis of variance was used for each harvest date and apart from Maris Piper giving consistently higher dry-matter percentages than Pentland Crown for the same tuber sizes, effects were small and difficult to interpret. The reasons for the problems in interpretation, which were mainly due to differences in tuber size distribution, are discussed.In the second and third experiments the effects of tuber-size distribution were removed by regression analyses of tuber dry-matter percentage on tuber size in definable grades and curves were fitted to the data. These curves revealed that tuber dry-matter percentage tends to show a quadratic response to increasing tuber size and is affected by variety and stem density. The significance of these results is discussed.

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