Molecular Soil Biology 2025, Vol.16, No.6, 306-313 http://bioscipublisher.com/index.php/msb 306 Case Study Open Access Yield Performance of Potato Varieties Under Different Irrigation Regimes KeyanFang1 , Zhongmei Hong2 1 Institute of Life Science, Jiyang College of Zhejiang AandF University, Zhuji, 311800, China 2 Hainan Provincial Institute of Biological Engineering, Haikou, 570206, Hainan, China Corresponding email: keyan.fang@jicat.org Molecular Soil Biology, 2025, Vol.16, No.6 doi: 10.5376/msb.2025.16.0028 Received: 04 Oct., 2025 Accepted: 11 Nov., 2025 Published: 04 Dec., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Fang and Hong, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Fang K.Y., and Hong Z.M., 2025, Yield performance of potato varieties under different irrigation regimes, Molecular Soil Biology, 16(6): 306-313 (doi: 10.5376/msb.2025.16.0028) Abstract As water resources become more limited and climate conditions keep changing, good irrigation planning is very important for stable potato yield. This study compared yield performance under full irrigation, mild deficit irrigation, and moderate to severe deficit irrigation. Potato varieties with different maturity types and different genetic backgrounds were tested. Differences in water use efficiency were also analyzed. The response of potato to water supply was clearly different among varieties and also varied at different growth stages. Different varieties use different ways to adapt to low water conditions. Matching suitable potato types with proper irrigation methods, and applying moderate deficit irrigation during non-critical growth stages, can help save water while keeping stable yield. This also improves potato adaptation to climate change. Keywords Potato (Solanum tuberosumL.); Deficit irrigation; Varietal differences; Yield components; Water use efficiency 1 Introduction The potato (Solanum tuberosumL.) is the third most important food crop in the world, after wheat and rice, and is cultivated in more than 100 countries (Birch et al., 2012). With the continuous growth of the global population, the increasingly limited arable land resources and the intensifying climate change, how to maintain a stable potato yield under the condition of limited water resources has become a key issue (Djaman et al., 2021; Ahmed et al., 2023). The yield of potatoes is highly sensitive to the time and place of water supply. Water supply at different growth stages directly affects photosynthesis, tuber initiation, and tuber bulking (Jama-Rodzenska et al., 2021; Wagg et al., 2021; Mora-Sanhueza et al., 2025; Rai et al., 2025). From the view of food security, potato produces high calories per unit area and has a short growth cycle. It can give high and stable yields in many ecological regions. For this reason, it is an important crop for reducing food shortages and seasonal hunger in developing countries (Degebasa, 2019; Degebasa, 2020). In mountain and highland areas such as Nepal and Ethiopia, potato has become one of the main foods for local people. It is seen as a key crop to improve food and nutrition security for small farmers (Bajracharya and Sapkota, 2017; Moreda et al., 2022). In many arid and semi-arid regions, irrigation water has approached or even exceeded the sustainable supply level of water resources (Balasubramanya et al., 2022; Lakhiar et al., 2024). With the intensification of climate change, precipitation has become more unstable, and the demand for crop evapotranspiration has been increasing continuously, intensifying the pressure and risks on water resources for agricultural production (Nikolaou et al., 2020; Ahmed et al., 2023). In regions with scarce water resources, precision irrigation and intelligent irrigation technologies are being promoted at a faster pace. This study mainly focuses on the yield differences of potato varieties under different irrigation conditions. By setting multiple irrigation gradients, the yield changes and water use efficiency of representative potato varieties at different water levels were compared. Meanwhile, analyze the influence of irrigation levels on the main yield components such as the number of tubers formed, the weight of individual tubers, and the commercialization rate. Based on a comprehensive consideration of "increased production" and "water conservation", irrigation optimization suggestions that are in line with local water resource conditions are put forward, providing references for water conservation and efficiency improvement in regional potato production and response to climate change.
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