Sustainable and profitable nitrogen fertilization management of potato

Nitrogen fertilization is indispensable to improving potato crop productivity, but there is a need to manage it suitably by looking at environmental sustainability. In a three-season experiment, we studied the effects of five nitrogen (N) fertilization rates: 0 (N0), 100 (N100), 200 (N200), 300 (N300) and 400 (N400) kg N ha−1 on crop N uptake, apparent nitrogen recovery efficiency (ANRE), tuber yield, nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), nitrogen uptake efficiency (NUpE), nitrogen utilization efficiency (NUtE) and agronomic nitrogen use efficiency (AgNUE) of five different potato cultivars: Daytona, Ninfa, Rubino, Sieglinde and Spunta. The economically optimum N fertilizer rates (EONFR) were also calculated. In seasons with high soil nitrogen availability for the crop (about 85 kg ha−1 of N), tuber yield increased only up to N100 and ANRE was about 50%; in seasons with medium (from 50 to 60 kg ha−1 of N) soil N availability, tuber yield increased up to N200 and ANRE was about 45%. Rubino and Sieglinde (early cultivars) responded for tuber yield only up to N100; Daytona, Ninfa, Spunta (late cultivars) up to N200, showing the highest values of NUE, NUpE, NUtE and AgNUE at N100. EONFR ranged from 176 to 268 kg ha−1 in relation to cultivar and season, but the reduction by 50% led to a tuber yield decrease of only around 16%. The adoption of cultivars characterized by high AgNUE at a low N rate and a soil nitrate test prior to planting, are effective tools to achieve a more sustainable and cost-effective nitrogen fertilization management.