PROTOCOL FOR SWEET POTATO STORAGE USING LOW ENERGY COOL BARN

1. Purchase 200kg of (sweet potato) from the market.

2. Transport the material sweet potato to the Processing Center at NSPRI , Ilorinresearch
facility.
3. Take the weight Weigh of the sweet potato and record.
4. Carry out sortingSort to remove the wholesome ones sweet potato from bad ones (the
bruised, insect infested, microbial damaged )ones.
5. Wash the good oneswholesome ones with clean water and allow to drain and dry under
ambient conditiontemperature.
6. Collect samples for initial quality assessmentdetermination such as firmness, microbial
load, TSS, proximate composition, β-carotene, Vitamin C, Total carotenoid.
7. Prepare the crates for the storage of the sweet potato by cleaning and drying.
8. Prepare the instrumentations (Data logger, kestrel weather station) for the measurement
of parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed.
9. Prepare the storage structures by carrying out the following task: cleaning, moistening of
the surrounding media of the storage structure (Low Energy Cool Barn), installation of
the rodent guards at the door of the structure.
10. Prepare the instrumentations (Data logger, kestrel weather station) for the measurement
of parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed.
11.
12. Set the instrumentations inside and around the structures.
13. Fill 12 stackable crates each with 15 kg of sweet potato.Fill each crate with 15kg of sweet
potato.
14. Place 3 crates each in Prototype A, B, C and Control structures.
15. Weigh the sweet potato in each structure at 9:00 amLoad each structure including control
with 3 crates in stackable position daily..
16. Remove sprouted and rotten sweet potato and weighed.
17. Collect sprouted and rotten sweet potato for microbial analysis.
18. Sample wholesome sweet potato for quality assessment as mentioned in step 6 weekly
and at the end of the storage period.
19. Repeat steps 13 through 16 until ≤10% of the initial weight of the sweet potato is left in
the seemingly best performing structure in terms of weight loss.
20. Retrieve, download and analyze data.