BACKGROUND: The reconditioning potential of four potato cultivars (Diamant, Hermes, Lady Rosetta and Spunta) was evaluated in three years of crop production. After 30, 60, 120 and 150 days of storage at 4.5• C, cultivars were reconditioned at 16• C for 0, 15 and 30 days before being evaluated for sprout growth, tuber fresh weight loss (FWL), sucrose content, reducing sugar (RS) content (sum of glucose and fructose contents) and chip fry colour (FCL).

BACKGROUND: Crop management has been implicated in tuber sugar accumulation and potato processing quality. However, reports on potato postharvest behaviour, tuber composition and processing quality in response to crop nitrogen (N) fertilisation have been sparse and inconclusive. In this study, chipping potato cv. Hermes was treated with four preplanting N rates (0, 100, 200 and 300 kg ha −1 ) to evaluate the effect of N fertilisation on sugar accumulation profiles and processing quality at harvest, after cold storage at 4.5• C for up to 200 days and after reconditioning at 16• C for 10-30 days.