Potato Tuberisation Responses to Drought and a Film-Forming Antitranspirant
Olu-Olusegun, O.F, Farrell, A.D., Monaghan, J.M. and Kettlewell, P.S. (2026) Potato Tuberisation Responses to Drought and a Film-Forming Antitranspirant. Plants, 15 (13). ISSN 2223-7747
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Abstract
Film-forming antitranspirants may help potatoes tolerate moderate drought, but their effects on early tuberisation and tuber size distribution remain unclear. Two pot experiments were conducted in a polytunnel (late summer) and a glasshouse (winter–spring), with moderate drought imposed during tuber initiation and early bulking, alone (DT) or combined with an antitranspirant (di-1-p-menthene; VGDT). Leaf relative water content (RWC), stolon traits, and tuber yield and size distribution were measured. Moderate drought reduced RWC, stolon number, and tuber set, which indicates the sensitivity of early tuber development to water deficit. VGDT increased leaf RWC under drought from 55% to 71% in Experiment 1 and from 62% to 73% in Experiment 2, while the total tuber number under moderate drought increased from 5.2 to 11.7 tubers plant−1 in Experiment 1 and from 6.1 to 10.7 tubers plant−1 in Experiment 2. VGDT also increased the number of large (≥9 cm) tubers, shifting size distribution towards marketable classes. Although Vapor Gard improved plant water status and tuber number under drought, it did not restore performance to irrigated levels. These findings indicate its value as a complementary tool to mitigate drought-related losses during tuberisation, not a substitute for irrigation.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Keywords: | Vapor Gard, di-1-p-menthene, leaf relative water content, tuber set, tuber size distribution |
| Divisions: | Departments > Agriculture and Environment (from 1.08.20) Research Centres > Centre for Crop and Environmental Science > Crop Science Group |
| Depositing User: | Mrs Rachael Giles |
| Date Deposited: | 07 Jul 2026 12:44 |
| Last Modified: | 07 Jul 2026 12:44 |
| URI: | https://hau.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/18395 |
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