The Relationship Between Post-harvest Storage Conditions and Membrane Leakage in the Context of Blackheart in Potato Tubers

The relationship between potato (Solanum tuberosumL.) tuber membrane permeability and storage conditions were examined. Tubers from four potato cultivars were stored for 1 year at 2 °C and4 °C, and tubers transferred from 4 °C to 2 °C for 48 hours. Electrolyte conductivity measurements taken from two discs of four potato cultivars with six biological replicates as well as different tissues types including the pith, cortex and parenchyma. The results showed that the longer the storage time and lower the temperature, the higher the electrolyte conductivity of the tissues. And different tissue types pith, cortex and parenchyma had different electrolyte conductivity susceptibility pattern under different storage conditions. Overall, the parenchyma has highest electrolyte leakage and following are pith, cortex has lowest among three different tissue types. However, cultivars that are resistant to Blackheart, surprisingly had higher electrolyte conductivity compared to the Blackheart-susceptible cultivars. Overall, the work demonstrates that storage conditions have a significant effect on membrane leakage but that this doesn’t appear to relate directly to susceptibility to Blackheart.