Potato belongs to the Solanaceae family. Potato is a plant from warm-cool climate, and the most convenient temperatures for its correct growing are those between 13 and 18ºC. Potato crop demands a great quantity of water, so potato needs a correct irrigation, being the choice of the irrigation system of maximum importance. Generally, a movable sprinkling irrigation system is the most spread one for potato crops. Low pressure sprinklers are the most recommended ones, as their expense and pumping power are minimum.
Sprinkling in potato crops is similar to the application conditions from the natural rain. A sprinkling irrigation system in potato crops shows the following advantages, such as: the possibility to clean the surface of leaves with the water from irrigation, improving this way the efficiency from potato plants, sprinkling irrigation allows us also to fight against frosts as well as to reduce the temperature from potato plants, to fight against pests simply with the application of irrigation or even by adding to the irrigation water from pesticides to foliar fertilizers.
Sprinkling irrigation in potato crops shows many advantages against other irrigation systems, such as the durability, fiability, maintenance facility, independence on specialized manpower, easiness to storage, cost/ha of sprinkling irrigation, residual sale value and so on.
Potato is not demanding talking about soil conditions, it can bear salinity and acid soils (5.5-6), and it can be affected by compressed and stony soils that avoid tubercles to develop freely.
RAESA | Crta. Santander Km. 14 Fuentes de Valdepero, Palencia (Spain) | +34 979706060 | palencia@raesa.com
