Storing potato tubers with apple fruit delays sprouting: a biological sprout suppressant technique

Potato tubers are an important food source for human consumption and are highly appreciated for their nutritional quality, which have beneficial effect on human health.
However, their postharvest quality and shelf-life during storage are compromised due to sprouting.
Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate whether apple as climacteric fruit have the potential to be a biological sprout suppressant as they emit ethylene during storage.
Potato tubers harvested from a commercial farm were stored alone (control) or with apple fruit at ambient temperature (23°C) for 30 days.
Tubers stored with apple fruit had significantly (P<0.05) reduced mass loss (2%) after 30-day storage compared to the control which showed higher mass loss (6%). Moreover, tubers stored with apple fruit had significantly (P<0.05) reduced sprouting (4%) compared with the control (15%). The results also showed that dry matter was significantly (P<0.05) higher in tubers stored with apple fruits (36%) as compared to tubers stored alone (34%). The study revealed that storing potato tubers with apple fruit can be used as the biological anti-suppressant in potato tubers as they delayed sprouting.
Therefore, this method can be adopted as a promising alternative to synthetic ethylene gas and various chemicals used to control potato tubers sprouting during postharvest storage.

IX South-Eastern Europe Symposium on Vegetables and Potatoes

L.S. Bopape, T.K. Satekge, T.P. Mafeo

climacteric fruit, ethylene, postharvest challenges, shelf-life, storage conditions and duration

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2024.1391.98