Impact of the method of plantation care on weeds on the production and economics results of three cultivars of edible potato

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the production-economic results of three edible potato cultivars (Eurostar, Jurek and Mazur) taking into account two different ways of plantation care against weeds. The first way of protection included only mechanical treatments – weeding was performed three times: twice weeding before emergence and once weeding combined with harrowing. The second method of plantation care included double dunging and application of a plant protection product – herbicide, the active substance of which is clomazone (60 g/l) and metribuzin (233 g/l). Before emergence, weeding was applied twice and immediately after the last weeding – about 7 days before the appearance of the first potato plant emergence (BBCH 00–08) a chemical treatment with the herbicide at a dose of 1.5 l/ha was performed. The research material consisted of tubers of three edible potato cultivars from a two-year field experiment (2021–2022). Production value, cultivation costs and gross margin were calculated for the three tested edible potato varieties (Eurostar, Jurek and Mazur) on average for the two years of the study (2021–2022). Mechanical and chemical treatments provided both higher yields of all cultivars and a level of gross margin.