Production of seed potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) under the recycling capillary culture system using controlled release fertilizers

Aeroponics, used mainly for the production of virus-free seed potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) in South Korea, poses several problems, particularly, the risk of blackout and lenticle hypertrophy. Recently, a capillary culture system that supplies nutrient solution through wicks was developed to overcome these problems. In a capillary culture system, the nutrients that the plant cannot take up remain in the solid media in which they accumulate, while the plant roots adhere to the wicks. In this study, a complete nutrient solution, a NPK fertilizer, and different levels of the controlled release fertilizers of Multicote, Osmocote, and Magamp K, were tested with water supplied through wicks. The final fresh weight per plant, in the nutrient solution plot weighed 72.9 g while that from the Multicote (100 g/box) plot weighed 66.4 g. The total tuber yield per square meter, in the Multicote (100 g/box) plot and Osmocote (80 g/box) plot were 13 and 4% higher, respectively, than that of the nutrient solution plot. The degree of the root penetration into the styrofoam bed of the controlled release fertilizer plot was only 13% of the nutrient solution plot.