Agraarteadus (Dec 2021)
Storability of sweet potato genotypes under ordinary ambient storage conditions
Abstract
The study was carried out to evaluate the storage performance of sweet potatoes in different conditions under ordinary ambient temperature (10.11–17.49 °C) at Khumaltar, Lalitpur (1350 masl) district of Nepal from December, 20 to March, 13 during the years 2018/19 and 2019/20. The experiment was laid out in Factorial Completely Randomized Design with three replications. Tuberous roots of three sweet potato genotypes ('CIP 440015', 'CIP 440267', and 'Local White') harvested at 4-month maturity were stored inside an ordinary room in dry sand, sawdust, thin jute sack, natural mud pot, and open crates (control). Data were taken on the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th weeks of storage. The pooled results showed a significant effect of storage conditions on physiological loss in weight and rotting (%) of sweet potato genotypes. With the progression of the storage period, physiological weight loss (PLW) and rotting (%) were significantly increased in all treatments. At the 12th week of storage, the highest PLW was recorded in the tubers stored in open crates (70.2%) followed by natural mud pot (65.2%) whereas the lowest PLW was observed in tubers stored inside the dry sand (50.2%). Genotype 'CIP 440015' showed good storability with minimum PLW. No weevil infestation and sprouting were observed during the experimental period. The lowest percentage of tuber rotting was recorded in the genotype 'CIP 440015' (55.3%) and inside dry sand (48.7%) at the 12th week of storage while it was the highest up to 85.9% in 'CIP 440267'. The highest rotting 76.7%) was recorded in thin jute bags which is statistically at par with natural mud pot (76.5%). The interaction effect of storage conditions and genotypes was found not significant. The results showed an increment in dry matter and reducing sugar content while the reduction in ß-carotene and starch content of tubers after 3 months of storage inside dry sand. There was positive and strong correlation of storage duration with dry matter (r = 0.750) and reducing sugar (r = 0.658) whereas, negative correlation with starch (r = –0.918) and ß-carotene (r = –0.352) content of sweet potato genotypes. The study concluded that sweet potato tuber can be kept for 8 to 10 weeks in dry sand with minimum postharvest loss in ordinary room condition and the genotype 'CIP 440015' has good storability among the tested genotypes in similar conditions.
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