The role of Soaking and spraying with some micro nutrients in the qualitative characteristics of potato yield (Solanum tuberosum L.)

A field experiment was conducted during the fall season 2023-2024 in a soil sandy clay texture to study soaking potato tubers and spraying plants with micro elements (iron, zinc and copper) in two separate experiments and their effect on plant growth and yield. The experiment was conducted at the Agricultural Research and Experiment Station affiliated to the College of Agriculture / University of Kirkuk /Iraq according to the Randomized Complete Block Design (R.C.B.D) with three replicates for the spraying and soaking experiment. The spraying experiment included spraying potato plants twice, one of them was dense branching during the vegetative growth stage and the second 30 days after the first spray. As for the soaking experiment, potato tubers were soaked before planting for 8 hours. The results of the study showed the Treatment T7 gave the best results in increasing the qualitative characteristics of the crop in the average percentage of dry matter in tubers, which reached (21.830%) and outperformed all other treatments, while treatment T2 gave the best results, as it outperformed by giving the highest average protein, which reached 8.470%, while treatment T3 outperformed by giving the highest average percentage of dry matter in tubers, which reached (20.630%), which outperformed its counterparts of individual additions in these characteristics, and treatment T6 gave the best results by giving the highest percentage of average dry matter in tubers, which reached 21.470%, and outperformed its counterparts of dual additions. As for the results of the soaking experiment, they were as follows Treatment D7 gave the best results for the average percentage of dry matter in tubers, which reached 19.533%, as it outperformed its counterparts of individual additions, and treatment D6 gave the best results in the average percentage of dry matter in tubers reached 20.400%, thus outperforming similar dual additives.