Nutritional interactions influencing diseases of potato

Nutrient management can decrease the severity of a number of important potato diseases, and certain practices, such as maintaining a low pH for scab control, have been followed for that single objective. More commonly, growers have incorporated fertility modifications into their particular disease and farming situations. Unfortunately, disease minimization may or may not be consistent with optimal fertilization for yield, quality, and profitability. Optimization for one disease may not match that for another, and the exact mechanisms involved are often complex and poorly understood. Potato growers will continue to experience conflicting production constraints. These constraints include price-driven needs for yield improvement and expense reduction; customer-driven demands for quality improvement; varietal shifts driven by the above considerations rather than by disease reduction; increasing pressure to justify, shift and reduce pesticide use; continuing concerns about nitrogen and phosphorus movement in groundwater and runoff; and increased attention to management of rotation crops.