title: Regulation Effects of Water and Nitrogen on the Source-Sink Relationship in Potato during the Tuber Bulking Stage.
abstract: The source-sink relationship determines crop yield, and it is largely regulated by water and nutrients in agricultural production. This has been widely investigated in cereals, but fewer studies have been conducted in root and tuber crops such as potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). The objective of this study was to investigate the source-sink relationship in potato and the regulation of water and nitrogen on the source-sink relationship during the tuber bulking stage. A pot experiment using virus-free plantlets of the Atlantic potato cultivar was conducted, using three water levels (50%, 70% and 90% of field capacity) and three nitrogen levels (0, 0.2, 0.4 g N∙kg-1 soil). The results showed that, under all water and nitrogen levels, plant source capacity were small at the end of the experiment, since photosynthetic activity in leaves were low and non-structural reserves in underground stems were completely remobilized. While at this time, there were very big differences in maximum and minimum tuber number and tuber weight, indicating that the sink tuber still had a large potential capacity to take in assimilates. These results suggest that the source-supplied assimilates were not sufficient enough to meet the demands of sink growth. Thus, we concluded that, unlike cereals, potato yield is more likely to be source-limited than sink-limited during the tuber bulking stage. Water and nitrogen are two key factors in potato production management. Our results showed that water level, nitrogen level and the interaction between water and nitrogen influence potato yield mainly through affecting source capacity via the net photosynthetic rate, total leaf area and leaf life span. Well-watered, sufficient nitrogen and well-watered combined with sufficient nitrogen increased yield mainly by enhancing the source capacity. Therefore, this suggests that increasing source capacity is more crucial to improve potato yield.
authors.affiliation: Stata Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences / Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Wenting
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Stata Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences / Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Binglin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.affiliation: Stata Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences / Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Shiwen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Stata Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences / Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xiping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Stata Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences / Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Lina
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Stata Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Chinese Academy of Sciences / Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Hongbing
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000502:physiology; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D010788:Photosynthesis; D018515:Plant Leaves; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000502:physiology; D035281:Plant Tubers / Q000502:physiology*; D012987:Soil; D011198:Solanum tuberosum / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D012987:Soil; D014867:Water; D009584:Nitrogen