Potato Research最新文献

Adoption of high-yielding, early maturing and drought-resistant varieties is a good adaptation strategy to cope with the adverse effects of climatic events like frequent occurrence of drought and heat stress. Kufri Pukhraj, an early bulking cultivar that is, drought tolerant and moderately resistant to late blight, is the most popular potato variety in India, covering 33% of total potato area. This paper assesses the gross returns from the investment in Kufri Pukhraj using the economic surplus method in a closed economy condition at all-India level. Time-series published data from various sources have been used in this study. A total of 41-year period (1978–2018) is considered to estimate the benefits in an ex-post framework using actual data. The analysis of varietal diversity of potato revealed that 11 out of 66 varieties are most popular and share about 75% of total potato area in India. These varieties are early-to-medium maturing and medium-to-high tolerant to drought. The findings show that R&D investment on Kufri Pukhraj has led to enormous benefits to both consumers and producers. The total surplus accrued to economy is estimated as Rs 540,840 million during 1978 to 2018. The net present value of returns was Rs 157,720 million and Rs 63,600 million at 5% and 8%, respectively. The study has found internal rates of return of 48%, which is a good rate of returns. Sensitivity analyses also showed good returns, with total economic surplus ranging from Rs 293,220 million to Rs 814,950 and internal rates of return ranging between 45 and 50%. Results imply that the investment in R&D of Kufri Pukhraj has proven to be successful and beneficial in India. The study recommends that other popular varieties equipped with other traits should be evaluated for shaping future research policies of potato.

Potato is one of the main crops worldwide and generates income for small-scale farmers, and it is a primary component of the diet of rural inhabitants, especially in developing countries. In Peru, the demand for French fries in traditional restaurants, rotisserie chicken (“Pollerias”), and fast-food restaurants is increasing every day. However, supply is covered by imported pre-fried potatoes. During the 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 growing seasons, ten potato clones belong to the International Potato Center (CIP) breeding program, and two Peruvian varieties used for frying as controls UNICA (CIP392797.22) and INIA 303-CANCHAN (CIP380389.1) were tested in 13 trials in farmers' fields placed in the north, center, and south of Peru using a randomized complete block design with three replications of 150 plants. Late blight severity and yield were evaluated under field conditions, and the contents of dry matter and reducing sugars were determined with laboratory tests. Clones CIP395123.6, CIP396026.101, and CIP396034.103 were selected for their high level of resistance to late blight, yields over 30 t/ha, with more than 20% dry matter, less than 0.20% reducing sugars and excellent quality for French fries’ sticks. Selected clones have been registered in the official register of cultivars of Peru, as new varieties. The standard of living of small and medium-scale potato farmers can be improved with the production of these new varieties, which support the health of producers and consumers and the environment. New potato varieties can be used as parents in breeding programs around the world.

The present study aims to evaluate the suitability of un-malted (raw version) and malted (sprouted) potato variety Kufri Pukhraj for the production of vodka using the brewing yeast strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae (MK680910). Both un-malted and malted potatoes were subjected to 72 h of fermentation and valuated for changes in total sugars, reducing sugars and ethanol conversion. Results showed that with an increase in fermentation time from 24 to 72 h, the content of total and reducing sugars decreased significantly (p < 0.05), resulting in a significant increase in the ethanol concentration. After 72 h of fermentation, malted potato produced the best results, with a greater substrate-to-product conversion (0.47 g ethanol g⁻¹ reducing sugars), a higher fermentation yield (91.97%), and higher ethanol content (9.82 percent v/v). Following fermentation, double distillation, clarification with activated charcoal, blending, and sensory analysis with different flavours were conducted. Vodka with ethanol concentration of 41.3% v/v was produced having 82.6 proof. Vodka blended with lemon was found to be more preferred with mean score of 8 and was of standard quality. The structural characterisation of the FTIR spectrum band at 1000 cm⁻¹ analysis correlates to C-O stretching in the volatile components and showed the presence of ethanol in the vodka.

Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum, is one of the most notorious plant diseases of potato and causes severe yield losses globally. R. solanacearum produces fluidal white coloured colonies with a light pink centre on casamino acid-peptone-glucose medium. Bacterial wilt pathogen is soil as well as tuber borne, so early detection of bacterial wilt pathogen is necessary to take up timely management practices. Traditional methods used for detection of R. solanacearum are labour-intensive, expensive, time-consuming and can be carried out only in well-equipped laboratories. Hence, the present study was aimed to develop a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay for R. solanacearum, as an alternative approach for quick and efficient detection of the bacterial wilt. LAMP reaction mix was optimized by adjusting the concentrations of MgSO_4, dNTPs, betaine, and time, temperature etc. The optimum temperature and time for the detection of R. solanacearum were 65 °C and 50 min, respectively. The positive samples showed colour change from violet and were reconfirmed in 2% agarose gel electrophoresis which produced ladder like bands. The LAMP assay developed was highly specific to detect R. solanacearum from other bacteria and sensitive with a lowest detection limit of 10 pg/µl of template DNA. The developed LAMP assay was validated with R. solanacearum isolates, infected stems, tubers and soil, and also, it was capable of detecting latent infection of R. solanacearum in seed tubers. Hence, the LAMP assay protocol provides a rapid, specific and sensitive tool for the latent detection of R. solanacearum in seed potato tubers.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum) production at subtropical latitude is highly influenced by varying weather and soil microclimate. There is a need to quantify the requirement of key weather and soil climatic variables during the critical growth stages of potato. The present investigation was carried out to study the effect of varying weather and soil microclimatic factors during critical growth stages on potato yield in the subtropical climate. Field experiments were conducted in 2018–2019 and 2019–2020 at Kharagpur, India, to determine the relationship between key weather as well as soil microclimate factors and potato tuber yield. The experimental data were used for validation of the crop model DSSAT-SUBSTOR-Potato and simulation of potato tuber yield for varying weather. The effects of three weather variables, i.e. maximum temperature (T_max), minimum temperature (T_min), and solar radiation (S_rad), and two soil variables, i.e. soil moisture (SM) content and soil temperature (ST), on potato yield were assessed through regression analysis. During the ‘Emergence to tuber initiation’ stage, the factors T_max, S_rad, and SM and during ‘Tuber initiation to maturity’ stage, the factors S_rad and SM had significant effects (p ≤ 0.05) on potato production. The optimum values of T_max were 17.58 (± 1.97) and 27.39 (± 0.9) °C; S_rad values were 14.28 (± 2.03) and 19.32 (± 1.96) MJ m⁻² day⁻¹; and SM values were 21.79 (± 2.35) and 21.77 (± 1.74) % during ‘emergence to tuber initiation’ and ‘tuber initiation to maturity’ stages, respectively, for increased potato production. The results stated the need for an optimum planting window for providing favourable weather and soil microclimate for potato production in subtropical climate.

In this study, the effect of heat stress pretreatment factors on cell suspension culture of potato was investigated. The duration of stress pretreatment at 5–50 °C for 20 min was evaluated by measuring cell growth and viability using the trypan blue exclusion method. Data were collected by measuring the dry weight of suspended cells, duration of heat stress, growth, and biomass content at the respective time points. Cell viability was negatively affected by 85 to 25% after pretreatment with heat stress between 35 and 50 °C. However, suspended cells exposed to 30 °C and 35 °C during the recovery period began to regain viability at 75% and 69%, respectively, after 55 h. In suspended cells treated at 40 °C or high temperatures, a complete decrease in cell viability was observed, resulting in no recovery of growth. In potato cell suspension cultures, heat treatments at 40 °C or above for 20 min not only have an immediate effect on cell viability, but also lead to subsequent cell death. Effective viability tests showed the natural heat tolerance of potato plants in cell suspension cultures. The basic parameters of cellular response to heat determined in this study will be helpful in selecting heat-tolerant potato varieties by establishing in vitro cell suspension cultures.

WRKY transcription factors (TF) are identified as important regulating plant proteins involved in stress response signaling pathways. Overexpression of these transcription factors in plants improved plant biotic and abiotic stress responses. In this context, we have envisaged transferring a cDNA encoding the grapevine VvWRKY2TF in potato plants. Four transgenic lines were selected (BFW2A, BFW2C, BFW2D, and BFW2F). In the present study, their response to Cadmium (Cd) stress (50, 100, 150, and 300 μM) was evaluated in vitro. Cadmium is recognized as being among the most harmful heavy metals to plants. Its accumulation in plant cells and tissues disturbs cell homeostasis and causes numerous metabolic damages that affect productivity. The wildtype (WT) plants from the BF15 potato variety and the transgenic plants overexpressing VvWRKY2TF were submitted to cadmium in vitro stress for 20 days. Plant growth and oxidative stress parameters were followed in these plants. All transgenic plants appeared more vigorous than WT. The BFW2A, BFW2C, and BFW2D lines showed better stem development rates than the WT and BFW2F lines. Malondialdehyde (MDA) production in both roots and leaves was reduced in BFW2A, BFW2C, and BFW2D plants as compared to BFW2F and WT plants. This result was associated with the best antioxidant activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) displayed by these genetically modified lines suggesting their better adaptation to Cd stress conditions. Cd accumulation in plant tissues was investigated, and higher levels of Cd were found in transgenic plants than in WT plants. These findings point to a functional Cd sequestration mechanism in the roots of transgenic plants expressing VvWRKY2. These findings imply that the VvWRKY2 TF is implicated in heavy metal response signaling processes. Its overexpression in plants may be an efficient strategy to reduce the negative effects of Cd stress, promoting the growth patterns and the activity of reactive oxygen species-scavenging enzymes in potato plants.

Graphical Abstract

Frozen food industry is gaining momentum in the developing world. Rapid urbanisation and the expansion of the fast food industry have greatly contributed to the significant expansion of India's potato processing sector, particularly in relation to the popular and fast-selling food item, French fries. Despite being the world's second-largest producer of potatoes, India processes only a small fraction, approximately 0.6%, of its total potato production into frozen French fries. In contrast, industrialised countries typically process over 80% of their potato harvest into frozen French fries. Current consumption patterns and preferences indicate that there is significant potential for further expansion in the Indian frozen French fry industry. According to an analysis of the Indian Agri-processing industry, the future demand for processing potatoes is projected to be highest for French fries, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.6% followed by dehydrated potato flakes (7.6% CAGR) and potato crisps (4.5% CAGR). Factors limiting industry expansion mainly include technical challenges (availability of poor quality seed; limited genetic base for the development of new varieties; prevalent diseases like late blight) and natural resource constraints (declining water tables associated with unpredictable and reduced rainfall). The primary issue facing the industry is consistent and assured supply of high-quality raw materials. This review describes the scenario of the Indian potato processing industry, developments in the frozen French fry industry in terms of market trends, new cultivars and technology. It also tackles concerns and highlights areas for enhancing and establishing a sustainable processing industry.

This paper assessed the effects of climate change and planting date adjustment on spring and summer potato in South Korea for the period 2061–2090. The study applied the SUBSTOR-Potato model and outputs of 24 general circulation models to capture future variability in climate conditions for four shared socioeconomic pathway-representative concentration pathway scenarios. Without planting date adjustment, tuber yield was projected to increase by approximately 20% for spring and summer potato, indicating that the CO₂ fertilization effect would offset the adverse effect of rising temperature. The effect of planting date adjustment was significant only for spring potato, where overall climate change impact with the optimized planting date was approximately +60%. For spring potato, the effects of rising temperature were bidirectional: temperature increases early in the year extended the growing season, whereas the higher temperature increases in June under the most severe climate change condition accelerated leaf senescence and reduced tuber bulking rate. Based on these results, different adaptation strategies could be established for spring potato for different climate change conditions. For example, developing frost-tolerant cultivars would continue to be recommended to plant earlier under the mild climate change conditions, whereas breeding mid-late maturity cultivars with high-temperature tolerance would be needed to delay senescence and enhance late tuber growth under the severe climate change conditions. Unlike spring potato, the breeding goal for summer potato of increasing high-temperature tolerance holds across all climate change conditions. Finally, these optimistic results should be interpreted with caution as the current model does not fully capture the effect of high-temperature episodes and the interactive effect between CO₂ and temperature, which may reduce beneficial projected climate change impacts.

This study presents the experimental and statistical examination of different process applications in the production process of the glycoalkaloid level in potato chips to which consumers are exposed. In the first stage, slice washing temperature (swt), frying temperature (ftemp) and frying time (ft) were determined as factors that could affect the glycoalkaloid level. Considering industrial applications, three different slice washing temperatures (25, 55 and 85 °C), frying temperatures (180, 185 and 190 °C) and frying times (165, 185 and 205 s) were evaluated for the study. The L₉ orthogonal array of the Taguchi method, which has been successfully applied in the analysis of multiple parameters, was used as the experimental design. Examining the S/N (signal/noise) ratios, the optimum process parameters for minimum content of α-solanine (As) were obtained as 25 °C swt, 190 °C ftemp and 165 s ft. The optimum process parameters were determined for minimum content of α-chaconine (Ac) as 55 °C swt, 190 °C ftemp and 165 s ft. In the analysis results, as swt decreased, ftemp increased, and ft was shortened; the glycoalkaloid ratio in the chips decreased. Analysis of variance results showed the most effective process parameter was the frying time for α-solanine and α-chaconine with 68.2% and 76.5%, respectively. Then comes ftemp with an effectiveness rate of 17.35% and 16.77%. In addition, the regression model developed to estimate the output parameters (As and Ac) yielded successful results with high determination coefficients (R²) of 90.6% and 92.5%.