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Storage behaviour of different potato varieties under ambient conditions

Article  in  Agricultural Research Journal · January 2019

DOI: 10.5958/2395-146X.2019.00090.5

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Agric Res J 56 (3) : 576-578, September 2019
DOI No. 10.5958/2395-146X.2019.00090.5
STORAGE BEHAVIOUR OF DIFFERENT POTATO VARIETIES UNDER
AMBIENT CONDITIONS
Swati Kapoor1*, BVC Mahajan1, Satpal Sharma2 and Neeraj Gandhi3
1
Punjab Horticultural Postharvest Technology Centre, 2Department of Vegetable Science
3
Department of Food Science and Technology,
Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana - 141004, Punjab
P otato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a widely consumed
vegetable around the world. India stands second in potato
production (48.5 million MT) next to China (99.1 million
MT). Punjab state shares around 5.30% of total potato
production in the country while the other major contributing
states are Uttar Pradesh (30.40%), West Bengal (26.07%)
and Bihar (11.79%) (Horticulture Statistics Division, 2018).
It is an economical vegetable food that provides minimum
energy in human diet. The potatoes are harvested in the
months of February-March and it is stored throughout the
year for sales. Availability of potatoes during the rest of
the year is possible only if proper storage conditions are
maintained. Good storage of potatoes is based on various
factors such as - physiological condition of potatoes during
harvest, harvest time, cultivar, storage time, temperature and
relative humidity. After harvesting, various changes such
as respiration, transpiration, sprouting, rise in temperature,
diseases or pest occur in potato (Gravouill, 1999; Storey
and Davies, 1992; Gupta et al., 2015). All these chemical
changes result in post harvest losses such as physiological
weight loss, textural loss and altered biochemical attributes.
Post harvest losses occurring during on-farm potato storage
were estimated around 40% (Ezekiel et al., 2002). Therefore,
increase in the shelf life of potato is important for farmers
and consumers. Different cultivars of potato possess different
properties as per their genomic constitution and thus have
variable shelf life. In view of this, in the present study the
shelf life of nine clones of potato viz. MP/04-816, MP/06-
39, MS/7-645, MS/8-1148, Kufri Neelkanth (K. Neelkanth),
Kufri Ganga (K Ganga), Kufri Pukhraj (K Pukhraj), Kufri
Frysona (K Frysona) and Kufri Chipsona-1 (K Chipsona1)
under ambient conditions was assessed. The experiments were
conducted at Punjab Horticultural Postharvest Technology
Centre, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. Freshly
harvested, well cured, healthy and undamaged crop was
taken for experiment. Thirty kilogram potato tubers of each
variety were stored in gunny bags at ambient conditions. The
temperature and relative humidity under ambient conditions
during the study period of April-May were noted to range
between 25ºC-35.3ºC and 21-51 per cent, respectively.
Potato tubers with three replications and five kg packing
were assessed for various physiological parameters such as
*Corresponding author : swatikapoor@pau.edu
Date of receipt : 19.07.2018, Date of acceptance : 20.06.2019
576
physiological weight loss (%) (PLW), sprouting (%) and
shrivelling at an interval of seven days for a period of 42
days. Physiological weight loss (%) was recorded on initial
weight basis of potato and expressed in per cent. Per cent
sprouting was calculated from potato tubers with two or
more sprouts more than 2 mm long ((Mahajan et al., 2015).
Dry matter content (%) was calculated using HR73 Halogen
Moisture Analyzer (Mettle Toledo, Switzerland) after 42 days
of storage period. Shrivelling was measured using shrivelling
index scale of 0-5 i.e. no shrivelling (0); 1-20 per cent (1); 21-
40 per cent (2); 41-60 per cent (3); 61-80 per cent (4); 81-100
per cent (5) (Mahajan et al., 2015).
Physiological loss in weight (PLW)
Potato respires during storage period and results in
moisture loss. Physiological weight loss indicates the
deterioration during storage that has direct impact on quality
of tubers. Among the varieties, lowest mean physiological
weight loss was observed in MP/04-816 (4.31%) closely
followed by K. Ganga (4.47%) whereas highest weight loss
was found in K. Chipsona 1 (6.59%) after 42 days of storage
(Table 1). With respect to storage time, weight loss increased
gradually in all the potato tuber varieties with progression of
storage period. Subsequent increase in weight loss could be
caused by loss of moisture through transpiration facilitated
by high temperature and low atmospheric humidity
(Ezeocha and Ironkwe, 2017). As per Ezekiel et al. (2004)
physiological weight loss in potatoes depends on various
factors like periderm thickness, number of lenticels on the
tuber surface and number of cell layers in the periderm,
explaining the variations in weight loss of different potato
cultivars. However, all potato varieties exhibited less than 10
per cent weight loss indicating good keeping quality till 42
days of storage period at ambient conditions.
Sprouting
Sprouting plays an important role in determining the
post harvest quality of potato tubers and market acceptability.
The rate of sprouting in all the potato cultivars increased with
length of storage period (Table 2). With respect to cultivars,
least mean sprouting per cent was noted in variety MP/04-
816 (1.03%) and maximum in K. Chipsona 1 (34.11%)
after 42 days of storage time. This could possibly be due
to higher weight loss observed in K. Chipsona1 (6.59%) as
compared to other cultivars as sprouting is one of the factors
Table 1. Physiological weight loss (%) of potato varieties during storage period
Variety Storage period (days) Mean
7 14 21 28 35 42
MP/04-816 1.51±0.02 2.90±0.07 3.89±0.12 5.06±0.09 5.88±0.11 6.65±0.14 4.31
MP/06-39 2.18±0.08 3.81±0.10 4.60±0.14 5.93±0.12 6.54±0.09 7.33±0.05 5.06
MS/7-645 2.07±0.06 3.13±0.10 3.97±0.12 5.86±0.06 6.32±0.13 7.11±0.23 4.74
MS/8-1148 2.13±0.07 3.41±0.18 4.22±0.09 6.04±0.10 6.13±0.04 7.30±0.10 4.87
K. Neelkanth 1.63±0.09 2.72±0.02 4.03±0.06 5.32±0.11 5.98±0.10 6.90±0.08 4.43
K. Ganga 1.20±0.06 2.77±0.08 3.93±0.15 5.86±0.11 6.35±0.05 6.76±0.11 4.47
K. Pukhraj 2.27±0.07 4.03±0.13 5.24±0.08 6.08±0.09 6.97±0.07 7.91±0.06 5.41
K. Frysona 2.39±0.14 4.37±0.15 5.55±0.08 6.89±0.05 7.12±0.09 7.45±0.04 5.62
K. Chipsona1 2.94±0.08 4.83±0.07 5.94±0.06 7.87±0.17 8.98±0.05 9.03±0.14 6.59

responsible for weight loss (Ravi et al., 1996). K. Pukhraj
also showed higher sprouting percent (28.13%) as compared
to other varieties; however, K. Neelkanth showed good
results with only 1.50 per cent sprouting. As per Paul and
Ezekiel (2003) occurrence of more than 40 per cent sprouting
degrades marketability of potatoes as excessive sprouting is
associated with increased weight loss and rotting of potato
under non-refrigerated conditions. Storage losses increase
with sprouting due to increased permeability of the epidermis
of the sprouts and increase of evaporation surface (Booth
and Shaw, 1989; Burton et al., 1992). Variation in sprouting
behaviour of different potato tubers might be due to difference
in genetic makeup of different cultivars (Jaiswal et al., 2003).

Table 2. Sprouting (%) of potato varieties during storage period

Variety Storage period (days) Mean
7 14 21 28 35 42
MP/04-816 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.32±0.10 3.87±0.15 1.03
MP/06-39 4.23±0.06 5.16±0.04 8.29±0.07 11.17±0.04 15.10±0.08 17.39±0.05 10.22
MS/7-645 0.0 0.0 3.40±0.07 7.32±0.10 9.92±0.09 10.52±0.12 5.19
MS/8-1148 1.87±0.13 3.46±0.07 4.31±0.09 7.17±0.06 11.06±0.08 13.33±0.08 6.87
K. Neelkanth 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.45±0.14 5.55±0.12 1.50
K. Ganga 0.0 0.0 7.52±0.06 8.16±0.08 10.05±0.11 11.12±0.07 6.14
K. Pukhraj 9.54±0.08 11.26±0.1 27.10±0.1 34.10±0.08 40.46±0.10 46.42±0.05 28.13
K. Frysona 5.23±0.06 9.87±0.08 12.29±0.05 16.66±0.10 21.75±0.13 22.36±0.05 14.69
K. Chipsona1 7.32±0.09 18.77±0.11 37.82±0.14 42.32±0.08 48.10±0.08 50.37±0.09 34.11

Table 3. Shrivelling of potato varieties during storage period

Variety Storage period (days)
7 14 21 28 35 42
MP/04-816 0 0 0 1 1 2
MP/06-39 1 1 2 2 2 3
MS/7-645 1 1 1 1 2 2
MS/8-1148 1 1 2 2 2 3
K. Neelkanth 0 1 1 1 2 2
K. Ganga 1 1 1 2 2 2
K. Pukhraj 1 1 2 2 3 3
K. Frysona 1 1 2 2 3 3
K. Chipsona1 1 1 2 3 3 3
Shrivelling index scale: 0-5 (0); 20 per cent (1); 21-40 per cent (2); 41-60 per cent (3); 61-80 per cent (4); 81-100 per cent (5)

577

Fig. 1. Dry matter content (%) of different potato varieties
Shrivelling
Evaporative losses from the tuber skin result in shrinkage
of the produce thereby reducing the market value. Shrivelling
was noticed in all the potato varieties with advancement of
storage days (Table 3). Shrivelling was measured on the
scale of 0-5 and varieties that receive score above 3 are
considered un-marketable. As per Bachem et al. (2000),
shrivelling is directly related to water loss owing to which
turgidity of periderm is decreased. Lowest shrivelling was
noted in K. Neelkanth, K. Ganga, MS/7-645 and MP/04-816
which might be due to more rigid periderm whereas highest
shrivelling was found in K. Pukhraj after 35 days of storage
and K. Chipsona1 after 28 days of storage.
Dry matter
Total dry matter content of potato tubers plays an
important role in determining its end use as high dry matter
content potato varieties are used for processing purpose and
low dry matter content varieties are used for table purpose
(Fig. 1). Potato cultivars for processing were found to have
higher dry matter content as compared to table-purpose
varieties. Highest dry matter content was found in K.
Chipsona1 (23.74%) and K. Frysona (20.01%). K. Neelkanth
and MP/06-39 had dry matter content at par to each other
(18.6%) while for all other varieties dry matter content was
in the range of 15.0-17.0 percent.
The present study reveals the storage potential of nine
different varieties of potato tubers at ambient conditions.
Among the various cultivars studied, maximum shelf life
of upto 42 days was noted for MP/04-816 with minimum
sprouting and physiological weight loss. K. Neelkanth, K.
Ganga and MS/7-645 registered no sprouting till 28 and
14 days, respectively. Maximum shrivelling was found in
varieties MS/8-1148, K. Pukhraj, MP/06-39, K. Frysona
578
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and K. Chipsona1 but was still acceptable as the rating was
observed below 3. With respect to all the physiological
factors, the K. Neelkanth, K. Ganga and MP/04-816 were
found to be stable at ambient conditions for a period of 42
days. Dry matter content of all the potato varieties varied in
the range of 15-23.7 per cent. Based upon the study, Kufri
Ganga variety can be recommended for commercial purpose.
Authors’ contribution
Conceptualization and designing of the research work
(BVCM, SS, SK); Execution of field/lab experiments and
data collection (SK, BVCM, SS); Analysis of data and
interpretation (SK, BVCM, NG); Preparation of manuscript
(SK, BVCM, NG)
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