EFFECTS OF RICE STRAW MULCH AND PLANTING DENSITY ON POTATO GROWTH AND PERFORMANCE IN LOWLANDS OF BURUNDI

摘要

Two types of experiments on the potato crop (Solanum tuberosum) were conducted in the lowlands of Burundi, one on the use of rice straw mulch and another on planting densities. Contrary to what was expected, effects of mulch were evident on plant emergence only, tuber yield and components being unaffected. This might be due to the use of heat tolerant genotypes. At the same time, the yields obtained with four different plant population densities corresponding to four distances between rows did not differ significantly according to the ANOVA analysis. However, a very strong correlation was found between tuber yield and distance between rows. This trial allowed us to achieve a tuber yield never previously reached in the lowlands of Burundi: an average of 23.5 t ha(-1) of fresh matter equivalent to 4.2 t ha(-1) of dry matter was obtained.