Evaluation ascorbic acid influence on development and productivity of seed potatoes under the conditions of the North-Western Region

Abstract

Ascorbic acid (AC) is involved in many plant life processes and may provide both stimulating and inhibitory effects. The primary objective was to investigate the effect of ascorbic acid on adaptive abilities, growth dynamics and productivity of potato microplants in vivo. The research was conducted from 2019 through 2021 under the conditions of the North-Western region of the Russian Federation. The research targets were early-maturing potato varieties - Gusar, Avrora and Real. According to the results of 3-year long studies, the maximum ability to adapt of all studied varieties was found in the variant with the use of 0.01% ascorbic acid: the number of adapted plants of Gusar and Avrora varieties exceeded the control by 6.7%, Real variety - by 8.9%. The growing season was reduced by 2-4 days in all studied varieties in the variant with the use of 0.05% ascorbic acid. The maximum values of growth indices were revealed in the Gusar variety in the variant with the use of 0.01% ascorbic acid; in the varieties Avrora and Real – in the variant of 0.05% ascorbic acid. The number of stems exceeded the control by 14-15%, and the height of the stems - by 3.4-6.7%; the number of leaves - by 1.6-2.8%. In the experiment variant with use of 0.05% ascorbic acid, the Gusar variety had the largest number of tubers which exceeded the control by 15%; the increase of tuber weight was +9.7%; the Avrora variety had by 20% more tubers, and productivity exceeded the control by 16.8%; the increase of Real tuber number was +24%, and productivity +18%. The use of ascorbic acid had no effect on the redistribution of mini-tuber fractions. Based on the conducted research, it may be concluded that all studied potato varieties had a versatile positive influence by the use of 0.05% ascorbic acid.