Study On Supporting Techniques For Mechanical Cultivation Of Early Maturing Potatoes In Hubei Province

With the expansion of planting scale,mechanization has become an inevitable choice,however the level of mechanization in potato production of China is low because of geography.This cultivation experiment was conducted in five regions of Hubei Province suitable for planting early maturing potatoes(Xiangyang,Suizhou,Xiaogan,Yichang,and Jingzhou).This research aims to standardize the mechanized potato planting in the Jianghan Plain,thereby improving production,reducing production costs,and promote integration of agricultural machinery and agronomy.Some results have certain reference value for potato early maturing market in Hubei Province.The yield in this experiment is calculated as kilogram per mu where,1mu=667m~2.Major research results are as follows:1.White film,black film,and dual color(black and white)film treatments were set up for’Zhongshu No.5’along with no film covering as control.A significant difference was seen between the white plastic film treatment and other treatments with shortest seedling emergence time and highest yield.The white plastic film treatment had yield(2594.23±244.83 kg/667m~2)24.35%higher than that of control.Whereas,no significant difference was seen in seedling emergence days between dual color plastic film and control.The yield showed negative correlation with the days of seedling emergence,and positive correlation with weight of potato/plant and number of main stems.2.An experiment was conducted with ridge distances;1m,1.1m,and 1.2m,and row spacing on the ridge;0.15 m,0.18 m,and 0.21 m,with a total of 9 cultivation combinations.The highest average yield;2417.41±409.27 kg/667m~2and2440.30±432.75 kg/667cm~2 was calculated for the ridge width 1.1m and row spacing0.15 m respectively.Whereas,the highest yield per plant;0.59 kg/plant,was calculated for 1.1 m×0.15 m×0.23 m.The ridge width was found to be the main factor affecting yield whereas,the interaction between ridge width and row spacing on the ridge was not significant.3.While comparing with the traditional single row mechanical cultivation mode,the wide ridge double row cultivation mode had significantly higher average yield with2629.60±275.23 kg/667m~2.In terms of seeding efficiency,mechanized seeding was about 10.5 times that of manual seeding.Without considering the cost at harvest,the mechanized wide ridge double row planting increased income by 101.2 Yuan per 667m~2(3.72%)than manual single row planting and by 818 Yuan per 667m~2(40.9%)than single row mechanical planting.In the production of spring sown potatoes in the central plains two cropping region,it is recommended to use white plastic film mulching along with the wide ridge and double row cultivation mode(D:1.1m×0.15m×0.23m)which can significantly improve potato yield,sowing efficiency,and economic benefits.The ridge width and row spacing on the ridge under this cultivation mode can be effectively integrated with potato planters.