Cold storage, reconditioning potential and chip processing quality of spring potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Hermes) tubers in response to differential nitrogen fertilisation

Abstract

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.

Economic Optimum Nitrogen Fertilization Rates and Nitrogen Fertilization Rate Effects on Tuber Characteristics of Potato Cultivars

“…At the N fertilization rates which led to maximum marketable tuber yields, tuber fresh mass loss after 105 days of storage under ambient conditions Kyriacou et al (2009) found that tuber fresh weight loss was unaffected by N fertilization rate. For all cultivars, tuber fresh weight loss was higher at ambient conditions (8.2% as cultivar average) than at cold conditions (3.8%).…”

Storage of potatoes

“…The cultivars were grown at different sites and the length of the growing season varies according to the cultivar. Kyriacou et al (2009) demonstrated that tuber sugar accumulation is affected by crop management and there has a subsequent impact on potato processing quality. Variation in tuber sugar composition at harvest reflects the effect of growing season.…”