Growth,Yield and Nutrition of Potato in Fumigated or Nonfumigated Soil Amended with Spent Mushroom Compost and Straw Mulch

Four cultural amendments; spent mushroom compost, straw mulch, both compost and straw mulch, or neither, were applied to soils that were either fumigated or not fumigated in a field of potatoes subject to early dying and Colorado potato beetle defoliation. Two plant samples were harvested at two week intervals to measure shoot and tuber growth and mineral nutrition, and two rows were harvested for yield at maturity. Amending the soil with compost increased vegetative growth and shoot weight more than final yield of tubers. Compost amendment delayed tuber filling by several days. Fumigation partly controlled the loss of leaf area due to early dying, but it did not increase tuber yields, and in 1994 fumigation reduced tuber yield in compost amended soils. The effects of compost and straw mulch on tuber yield were related to the concentrations of N and P in leaves. The potato crop did not benefit from compost amendment combined with fumigation, because in fumigated soil there was no improvement in plant nutrition due to compost.