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Effects of Ozone and Sulfur Dioxide on Tuber Yield and Quality of Potatoes¹

ABSTRACT

Air pollution injury of the potato plant (Solarium tuberosum L.) has been documented previously, but potato yield losses have not been estimated in replicated experiments having controlled exposures to ozone (O₃) and sulfur dioxide (SO₂) A controlled-environment study involving the speckle-leaf-sensitive cultivar ‘Centennial Russet’ was conducted to examine the effects of chronic exposure to O₃ and SO₂ on plant growth and tuber yield and quality.

Ozone, at the highest seasonal dose (44.2 ppm-h), reduced leaf dry weight 48%, root dry weight 58%, tuber number 38%, and total tuber yield 45%. Lower exposures affected these parameters in linear proportion to the O₃ dose. Mean stem (minus leaves) dry weight, tuber dry weight, tuber dry matter percentage, partitioning of dry matter to tubers, and tuber sugar concentrations were not affected. Tuber N concentration increased linearly by up to 21% as the O₃ dose increased. Plants grown outside of chambers in ambient air showed effects consistent with results obtained within the chambers. The plants grown outside received a total seasonal O₃ dose of 50.4 ppm-h and produced 58% less tuber yield than filtered air control plants.

Plant responses to SO₂ exposure were much less pronounced than their responses to exposure to O₃. However, leaf symptom development in O₃-treated plants was markedly intensified by the presence of SO₂. Small reductions in tuber yield and mean tuber size, but not in tuber number, were observed in SO₂-treated plants. Tuber N concentration increased slightly in SO₂-treated plants.

A significant O₃ x SO₂ interaction was observed in the case of tuber N concentration only; SO₂ accentuated the O₃-induced increase in N content.

Key Words: air pollution injury • pollutant fumigation • Solanum tuberosum L

¹ Contribution of the Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521 and Univ. of California, Davis, CA 95616.

² Assistant Geneticist, Dep. of Botany and Plant Sciences, Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521 (Present address: Dep. of Agronomy and Range Science, University of California, Davis, CA 95616); Lecturer and Specialist, Dep. of Vegetable Crops, University of California, Davis, CA 95616; and Horticulturist, Dep. of Botany and Plant Sciences, and Plant Pathologist, Statewide Air Pollution Research Center, respectively, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521.

Received for publication October 24, 1981.