Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Lyckeby Starch AB is a farmer-owned company that produces products based on potato \nstarch. In order to increase their production efficiency and their international competitiveness \nthe company is investigating the possibilities of keeping their factories open longer. To \nachieve this, potato has to be stored for a longer period of time than what is practiced today. \nStarch potato is usually stored in large piles covered by straw and plastic, either in the field or \non the farmyard. \nThe objective was to examine in what way starch yield (starch content*tuber weight) in \nthree different potato varieties was affected by storage in two different types of storage piles. \nThe potato was stored for three months in total and starch content and tuber weight were \ncontrolled throughout the period. Stored tubers were also visually examined and prescense of \nmechanical damage as well as wet rots and dry rots was recorded. Bacteria and fungi were \nisolated and identified. \nIn general, varietal differences were greater than differences between the storage piles. \nLoss of starch yield was greatest during the first weeks of storage, and there was a strong \ncorrelation between presence of mechanical damage on tubers and incidence of wet rots and \ndry rots. Several bacteria and fungi were identified and there was a tendency of difference in \nbacterial diversity between the different potato varieties, which indicates that the different \nvarieties select for different bacterial species. In order to minimize the loss of starch yield \nduring storage it is important to choose good potato varieties and to harvest them at the right \ntime and under appropriate circumstances in order to avoid mechanical damage
Author: Jenny Knutsson
Language: English
Topic: Potato Plant Research
Subfield: Food Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3409061