Abstract
SUMMARY Since many soils used for growing potatoes in the UK are likely to be close to their plastic limit for cultivation during early spring, there exists the potential for soil compaction to occur during planting which will restrict root penetration. A series of experiments showed that soil compaction delayed emergence, reduced rate of leaf appearance and ground cover expansion, shortened canopy cover duration and restricted light interception, which combined to reduce tuber yield. Rooting density and maximum depth of rooting were reduced, particularly where compaction was shallow. In some soils, irrigation helped alleviate some of the effects of compaction but in others it exacerbated their severity. Using a cone penetrometer, relationships between rate of root penetration and soil resistance (Ω) were established from a number of experiments and replicated blocks in commercial fields and an overall relationship of the form y =16·3–4·08Ω mm/day was produced. Root penetration rates of c . 20 mm/day were measured in the intensively-cultivated ridge zone but growth rates were halved at a Ω of 1·5 MPa. A survey of 602 commercial fields showed that two thirds of fields had Ωs ⩾3 MPa (where root growth rates would be <2 mm/day) within the top 0·55 m of the soil profile. Thus, rooting depth is likely to be considerably shallower than desirable and lead to inefficiency of water and nutrient utilization. The use of powered cultivators to separate stones and clods from beds or ridges and produce a fine seedbed is now almost universally adopted in the UK. However, the system is both time and energy inefficient and increases the risk of creating soil compaction, particularly at shallow depths. All cultivation equipment has been shown to cause compaction and it is suggested that the consequences of the shortening of the growing season from delaying planting by a few days to allow the soil to dry are far less than the yield and quality losses caused by compaction.
Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record, shown for indexing and research. Copyright remains with the authors or the publisher. Read at the source ↗
The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.
Claims 13
Claim · model-written summary
Soil compaction delayed emergence and leaf appearance.
- Taxon
- potato
Solanum tuberosumt0 - Treatment
- soil compactione0
- Outcome
- emergencee0
- Direction
- delayede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“soil compaction delayed emergence, reduced rate of leaf appearance”
t0“potato”
Claim · model-written summary
Soil compaction reduced leaf appearance rate.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Treatment
- soil compactione0
- Outcome
- rate of leaf appearancee0
- Direction
- reducede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“soil compaction delayed emergence, reduced rate of leaf appearance”
t0“potato”
Claim · model-written summary
Compaction reduced ground cover expansion, canopy duration and light interception.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Treatment
- soil compactiont0
- Outcome
- ground cover expansion, shortened canopy cover duration and restricted light interceptione0
- Direction
- shortenede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“reduced rate of leaf appearance and ground cover expansion, shortened canopy cover duration and restricted light interception”
t0“soil compaction in potato”
Claim · model-written summary
Compaction reduced tuber yield.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Treatment
- soil compactiont0
- Outcome
- tuber yielde0
- Direction
- reducee0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“which combined to reduce tuber yield”
t0“soil compaction in potato”
Claim · model-written summary
Compaction reduced root density and maximum rooting depth, especially when shallow.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Treatment
- compactione0
- Outcome
- Rooting density and maximum depth of rootinge0
- Direction
- reducede0
- Qualifier
- particularly where compaction was shallowe0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Rooting density and maximum depth of rooting were reduced, particularly where compaction was shallow”
t0“potato”
Claim · model-written summary
Irrigation alleviated compaction effects in some soils.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Treatment
- irrigatione0
- Outcome
- effects of compactione0
- Direction
- alleviatee0
- Qualifier
- In some soilse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“In some soils, irrigation helped alleviate some of the effects of compaction but in others it exacerbated their severity”
t0“potato”
Claim · model-written summary
Irrigation worsened compaction effects in other soils.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Treatment
- irrigatione0
- Outcome
- effects of compactione0
- Direction
- exacerbatede0
- Qualifier
- in otherse0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“In some soils, irrigation helped alleviate some of the effects of compaction but in others it exacerbated their severity”
t0“potato”
Claim · model-written summary
Root penetration rate declined with soil resistance according to y =16·3–4·08Ω mm/day.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Outcome
- ye0
- Value
- y =16·3–4·08Ω mm/daye0
- Setting
- soilt0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“an overall relationship of the form y =16·3–4·08Ω mm/day was produced”
t0“soil compaction in potato”
Claim · model-written summary
Root penetration was about 20 mm/day in the cultivated ridge zone.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Outcome
- Root penetration ratese0
- Value
- 20 mm/daye0
- Setting
- intensively-cultivated ridge zonee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Root penetration rates of c . 20 mm/day were measured in the intensively-cultivated ridge zone”
t0“potato”
Claim · model-written summary
At 1.5 MPa soil resistance, root growth rates were halved.
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“growth rates were halved at a Ω of 1·5 MPa”
t0“potato”
Claim · model-written summary
Two-thirds of 602 fields had soil resistance at least 3 MPa in the upper 0.55 m.
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e0“A survey of 602 commercial fields showed that two thirds of fields had Ωs ⩾3 MPa (where root growth rates would be <2 mm/day) within the top 0·55 m of the soil profile”
Claim · model-written summary
Cultivation equipment causes compaction.
Not reportedTaxon
Verbatim
e0“All cultivation equipment has been shown to cause compaction”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors recommend delaying planting briefly for soil drying rather than accepting compaction losses.
- Taxon
- potatoSolanum tuberosumt0
- Outcome
- delaying planting by a few days to allow the soil to drye0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“it is suggested that the consequences of the shortening of the growing season from delaying planting by a few days to allow the soil to dry are far less than the yield and quality losses caused by compaction”
t0“potato”
The same questions in other papers
tillage · yield · Solanum tuberosum (potato)Results differ
17 papers in the same direction as this paper · 34 in the opposite direction
- positive
- no effect
- positive
48 papers more in this group
See all 52 papers →tillage · growth · Solanum tuberosum (potato)Positive and negative results
5 papers in the same direction as this paper · 5 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- positive
7 papers more in this group
See all 11 papers →irrigation · soil: physics · Solanum tuberosum (potato)Results agree
4 papers in the same direction as this paper
- positive
- positive
- positive
1 paper more in this group
See all 5 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.