Crop characteristics of sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas L.) germplasms for optimizing the selection of resources.

This study was conducted to investigate the crop characteristics of 181 sweetpotato germplasms collected from Korea and overseas. The longest shoot vine length was observed in IT232211 (354.8 cm) and the shortest shoot vine length was observed in IT232185 (32 cm). The maximum numbers of shoot branches and nodes were produced by IT232091 (23.0) and IT232174 (67.8), respectively. Differences in Rapid Visco Analyser profiles were observed for pasting parameters such peak, trough, final, breakdown, and setback viscosities; and pasting temperature. The peak and breakdown viscosities were highest in IT232050 and IT232010, at 338.3 and 207.2 Rapid Visco Unit (RVU), respectively. The trough viscosity was lowest in IT232019 at 103.8 RVU. IT232101 had the highest final viscosity (284.6 RVU), and IT232192 had the highest setback viscosity (81.7 RVU). IT232197 had the highest pasting temperature at 86.8°C, and that of IT232134 was lowest at 72.7°C. To evaluate functional substance content, we analyzed 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity and total polyphenol content. The highest frequency proportion of starch was in the 10%-15% range (50.8% of the plants), followed by the 5%-10% range (38.1% of the germplasms). Sugar content ranged from 13.5 to 33.3% (23.2% on average); the highest frequency proportion of sugar was in the 20%-25% range (56.9% of the germplasms), followed by the 25%-30% range (25.4% of the germplasms). The highest frequency proportion of water was in the 70%-80% range (52.5% of the germplasms), followed by the 60%-70% range (44.2% of the germplasms). Our results provide basic data for the selection of useful resources and for the development of new sweetpotato varieties.