WATER–YIELD RELATIONS OF PROCESSING POTATO UNDER SURFACE AND SHALLOW SUBSURFACE DRIP IRRIGATION IN TEMPERATE CLIMATIC ENVIRONMENT

SUMMARY Field experiment was conducted to study the effects of surface (SDI) and shallow subsurface drip irrigation (SSDI) on potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) tuber yield, evapotranspiration, water use efficiency (WUE), and yield response factor (Ky). Lower average potato yields in Serbia, compared to those achieved in the leading potato growing countries (USA 49 t ha-1, New Zealand 49 t ha-1, Denmark 42 t ha-1, Holland 42, Australia 40 t ha-1, FAOSTAT, 2019), are primarily a consequence of inadequate management practices, insufficient amount and unfavorable distribution of precipitation in the growing season, production mostly under rainfed conditions as well as poor irrigation management. If the irrigation regime is not harmonized with the plant water needs and water-physical properties of the soil, the effect of irrigation may be absent. According to the Hargreaves climate classification system, the study area is classified as arid in the summer period, from Jun to August (Bošnjak, 2001).