Abstract

Ethylene is one of the first discovered gaseous plant hormones possessing a very wide spectrum of biological effect. It is used for quite a while in agriculture, mainly for ripening of fruits and berries. However, in the sphere of potato growing in general and in the storage of seed potatoes in particular, its effectiveness has not been fully studied yet. The aim of this research was to determine the ethylene effect on growth, development and yield of potatoes. Gas treatment in potato storage was carried out during 2015 to 2017 using the Restrain technology. The tubers were planted in two districts (Lyuberetsky and Ozyorsky) of Moscow region with similar soil and climatic conditions including application of irrigation. In this study, it was found that treatment of seed potato tubers with ethylene at a storage temperature of 4°C promoted: (i) change in biochemical indicators of tubers (dry matter content and sucrose), which indicates the release of tubers from the state of dormancy period, accompanied by an increase in the intensity of breathing, (ii) increase in the number of opened eyes (mainly due to the side eyes due to excluding apical dominance), (iii) earlier (3-5 days) and even emergence of sprouts, which, as a consequence, prolonged the vegetation period until the time of the wilting, which occurred approximately in the same time as the variants without treatment, (iv) development of bigger amount of stems on the plant (by 19.9-36.0%) and (v) increase in the number of tubers per plant (by 6.3-19.0%, especially on Gala variety) with an earlier start of tuberization. It was observed that due to treatment of seed potato tubers with ethylene, the total potato yield depending on the variety, area of cultivation and irrigation application increased by 9.9 to 19.0% (1.2 to 6.4 t/ha by weight). The commodity yield increased by 7.0 to 23.9% (1.0 to 6.6 t/ha by weight). It was also observed that the potato crop structure was more even with the treatment of seed potato with ethylene.