IRRIGATION - A KEY POINT IN ADAPTING POTATO PRODUCTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE

Abstract

The impact of climate change on potato production in Montenegro is becoming more pronounced year by year. Since potatoes in Montenegro are predominantly grown in conditions of dry farming, the aim of this study was to examine the influence of different irrigation regimes on the main parameters of potato productivity in the conditions of temperate continental climate. The study of five new Dutch potato varieties (three medium early - Spektra, Adato and Vogue and two medium late varieties - Prince and Babylon) was conducted during 2019 and 2020. Four variants of irrigation were studied: one, two and three sprinkler irrigations during vegetation season, and the variant without irrigation. The potato crop was irrigated with irrigation rate of 50 mm of water per m2, and the watering started in the phenological phase of potato flowering.On a two-year average, the highest number of tubers was found in the varieties Adato – 11, while the lowest one had the variety Babylon - 7.8. Babylon variety had the largest tubers on average (104.7 g), while the smallest tubers were measured in Adato variety (71.9 g). All applied irrigation variants had the effect on the potato yield in all studied potato varieties, resulting in significantly higher yields compared to rainfed variants. The highest yields were measured in Vouge variety on plots which were irrigated three times – 56.1 t ha-1 in 2019 and 53.7 t ha-1 in 2020, while the lowest yields were measured in rainfed variants in Spektra variety – 24 t ha-1 in 2019 and 25.5 t ha-1 in 2020.