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The Relationship of Chloride and Sulfate Ions to Form of Nitrogen in the Nutrition of Irish Potatoes¹

ABSTRACT

A greenhouse experiment using sand cultures was conducted to study the role of chloride and sulfate anions in the nutrition of Irish potatoes when different forms of nitrogen were used. The experiment consisted of two series, the first in which all N was supplied as NO₃^- and the second in which both NH₄⁺ and NO₃^- were present. Treatments within each series consisted of plants receiving different amounts of sulfate and chloride. The initial solution concentrations of all ionic species except NH₄⁺, NO₃^-, Cl^-, and SO₄⁼ were the same for each treatment.

Two distinct foliar symptoms associated with treatments were observed. The first, a tip burn associated with high SO₄⁼ treatments, was more severe when NH₄⁺ was present than when NO₃^- was the only source of N. The second, characterized by rolling of the leaves, was obtained only with Cl^- treatments in the presence of NH₄⁺. This was not observed when NH₄⁺ was used in the absence of Cl^- or when NO₃^- was added in the presence of either Cl^- or SO₄⁼.

Increasing Cl^- and decreasing SO₄⁼ concentrations in the presence of NH₄⁺ resulted in marked reduction in the yield of fibrous roots. Additions of Cl^- generally resulted in decreases in the percentage of dry matter in the tops and this effect was more pronounced in the presence of NH₄⁺. In the NH₄NO₃ series, reductions in chlorophyll content resulted from increased supply of Cl^- and simultaneous decrease of equivalent amounts of SO₄⁼. No change in these pigments was obtained in the NO₃^- series. The mineral content of the potato leaves was affected both by form of N and by Cl^- and SO₄⁼ concentrations. The Cl^- content of the leaves was markedly increased in the presence of NH₄⁺.

¹ Contribution of Department of Agronomy and Department of Statistics, North Carolina Agr. Exp. Sta., Raleigh, N. C. Submitted with the approval of the Director as paper Number 619 of the journal series. Presented before Div. IV, Soil Science Society of America, St. Paul. Minn. Nov. 10, 1954.

² Research Ass't. Professor of Agronomy, Research Instructor of Agronomy, Research Assoc. Professor of Agronomy, and Professor of Statistics, respectively.

Received for publication February 19, 1955.