Anastasia Borovkova, Ph.D. s.-x. Sci., Agribusiness Development Manager, Omia Ural LLC
Roman Semkov, Technical Manager, Omia Ural LLC
Severe weather conditions in the summer of 2021 could not but affect the results of the season. According to the Union of Potato and Vegetable Market Participants (Potato Union), the harvest in Russia this year is 15-20% less than last year. But the problem lies not only in the reduction of collection volumes: in many farms, a decrease in the commercial quality of products is noted. Large potatoes with a diameter of 55+ mm, which previously accounted for 80% of the crop, now no more than 50%. It is more difficult to sell products that do not meet the standard of retail chains, and the income from their sale is less.
Under the current conditions, any methods of increasing the yield of large tubers will work to increase the economic efficiency of potato farms, especially since the list of methods for regulating this indicator is quite limited. One of the possible solutions is to pay attention to new products that are just entering the Russian market, to include them in the technology, increasing the yield from
every hectare.
In the critical cultivation season of 2021, we had the opportunity to evaluate the effect of the new Swiss preparation Omia Calcipril, an innovative granular soil ameliorant fertilizer made from micronized (finely ground) powder of natural purified calcium carbonate. The drug has a high content of pure calcium - 38%. For the plant, it is a fertilizer, and for the soil it is an acidity normalizer, a double effect has a positive effect on the yield and structure of the potato crop.
There is an opinion that potatoes do not need liming, that it can adversely affect the quality of tubers and lead to their defeat by common scab. Potatoes do belong to crops that are insensitive to soil acidity and can grow in a wide pH range, but along with carrots, table and sugar beets, they are in dire need of sufficient calcium and magnesium in the soil. The removal of these elements with the potato harvest is: 3-4 kg Ca/t, 1,1 kg Mg/t. Calcium leaching is from 50 to 350 kg/ha per year.
The use of highly purified and micronized preparation Omia Calcipril in Melagro LLC, Vladimir Region, proved its high efficiency. In the experiment, 400 kg/ha of the preparation were applied randomly before planting, then milling and planting were carried out.
Table 1 shows comparative results. The yield increased by 7,5 t/ha or 19,1%. The cost of additional harvest more than covered the cost of using the drug. We emphasize that at the moment the purchase of Omia Calcipril is subsidized by the state under the program "Lime of soils" (compensation of costs from 50%), which allows farms to receive additional benefits.
The yield increased due to the increased production of a large fraction. On fig. 1 and 2 show how Omya Calcipril controlled the output of the coarse fraction. Thus, the yield of the 60 mm fraction doubled, and the yield of the 50-60 mm fraction increased by 28,1%.
Almost the entire root system (up to 95%) is located in the plow horizon, so potatoes are demanding on soil fertility and respond well to agricultural technology. The harvest and its quality directly depend on the conditions created in the ridge, which is why it is in our power, by rationally filling the habitat of the culture, to obtain the maximum agronomic and economic efficiency of production.