Tuber Yield, Water Productivity and Post-harvest Quality of Sprinkler-irrigated Chip Potato (solanum tuberosum L.) Under a Semiarid Climate

Abstract

Koffi Djaman, Charles Higgins, Samuel Allen, Komlan Koudahe and Kevin Lombard

The potato chip industry has critical requirements regarding tuber physical and chemical aspects and these requirements are the characteristics targeted by chip potato breeding programs. This study aimed to evaluate 33 chip potato cultivars for the tuber yield and some physical and chemical characteristics of the tuber and potato chips at harvest and during cold storage period. Field experiments were conducted during the 2017 and 2018 growing seasons under sprinkler irrigation. Twenty-one cultivars were evaluated in 2017 and 22 cultivars were evaluated in 2018 using a randomized complete block design with four replications. The target traits under this study were tuber yield, tuber size, internal and external defects, sucrose and glucose content of the tuber and the chip color at harvest and during storage time. Fresh potato tuber yield varied with cultivar and ranged from 44.7 to 72.1 t/ha, averaging 58.5t/ha in 2017 and 60.8 t/ha in 2018. In 2017, cultivar NDTX081648CB-13W obtained the highest tuber yield and TX09396-1W obtained the lowest, while in 2018, Lamoka obtained the highest tuber yield and MSW044-1obtained the lowest. Cultivars NDTX081648CB-13W, MSW485-2, Atlantic, ACO1144-1W, and WANETA were the highest yielding cultivars in 2017, and Lamoka, HODAG, NICOLET, DAKOTA PEARL, and AF5429-3 were the highest yielding cultivars in 2018. Potato tuber size class of 4.7-8.75 cm was the most dominant and accounted for 93% in 2017 and 89% in 2018, respectively. Potato tuber specific gravity varied from 1.08-1.11 during both growing seasons and the dry matter content of the tubers ranged from 17.2 to 22.2% W9968-5 and MSV030-4 showed the highest internal defects of 47.2% and 33.7%, respectively, at harvest. W9968-5 still showed the highest external defects during the storage period. CO07070-13W, NDA081453CAB-2C and NY157 showed some internal defects during storage time in 2017. In 2018, NDA081453CAB-2C presented very high undesirable chip color (71.1%) followed by ND7519-1 (33.1%). In 2018, NDTX081648CB-13W, NY152 Niagara, and MSV313-2 showed relatively high internal defects (>15%) while Atlantic, MSV313-2, MSV358-3 and W9968-5 showed the highest external defects. During eight months of cold storage, NY162 showed 44.5% of external defects followed by MSV358-3 (24.6%), MSV313-2 (24%) and W9968-5 (20%). NY162 showed the highest total defects of 44.5% followed by MSV358-3, MSV313-2 and W9968-5 with total defects greater than 20%. Overall, there was a decrease in sucrose contents in the tubers after six months of cold storage except for the cultivars AF5040-8 and NDA081453CAB-2C. It increased thereafter during eight months in cold storage. However, sucrose content of the tubers at the end of the storage period was lower than the sucrose content at harvest except for B2727-2, NDA081453CAB-2C, NDTX081648CB-13W, and CO07070-13W. Significantly 100% increase in sucrose content in tubers of AF5040-8, DAKOTA PEARL, MSW485-2 Huron, MSX540-4 Mackinaw, NDA081453CAB-2C, and NDTX081648CB-13W was observed during the storage period. Glucose content of tubers changed during the storage period and was more noticeable in AF5040-8, AF5040-8, DAKOTA PEARL, MSW485-2 Huron, MSX540-4 Mackinaw, ND7519-1, NDA081453CAB-2C, and NDTX081648CB-13W. There was considerable increase in glucose content in ACO1144-1W, NDA081453CAB-2C, NDTX081648CB-13W, CO07070-13W, and W9968-5 tubers. At nine-month storage period, only Lamoka, ACO1144-1W, AF5040-8, MSX540-4, and CO02321-4W, HODAG, MSV030-4, MSW044-1, NY152 Niagara, NY162, and WANETA HODAG showed nice chip color. NDA081453CAB-2C, NDTX081648CB-13W, ND7519-1, and NDA081453CAB-2C presented the least desirable chip color with score “5”. Cultivars with consistent scores of “1” constitute promising lines for chip potato producers across the dry and hot environment of the southwest region of the United States.

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