Author
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Westermann, Dale |
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Submitted to: American Journal of Potato Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 11/19/2004 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: The agricultural community produces sufficient food for U.S. consumers while exporting a significant amount to world markets. This is accomplished by the high efficiency that producers achieve using information from agricultural researchers. A portion of this knowledge is how to provide the sixteen essential chemical elements to the potato crop in the right amount and at the right time for high efficiency. This knowledge allows agriculture to produce abundant food while protecting the environment. Solving future complex and difficult nutritional problems will require multi-disciplinary approaches and additional resources if agriculture is to continue to produce abundant food. Technical Abstract: Plant nutrition is the practice of providing to the plant the right nutrient, in the right amount, in the right place, at the right time. This paper gives an overview of the roles that each of the sixteen essential nutrients have in plant nutrition, their relative mobility as related to deficiency symptom expression, and what is generally known about nutrient responses to field application on potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) in the U.S. and Canada. Maintaining high crop yields with minimum nutrient losses to the environment is and will continue to be a significant challenge to the potato producer. Additional nutritional research efforts in genetic modified plants, precision agriculture, food quality and safety, fertilizer impurities, and other management concerns should significantly help the producer in this effort. |
