Developing Storage Best Management Practices for Potato Varieties Important to the Pacific Northwest Potato Industry
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
1:00 PM - 1:20 PM
Speakers
Description
Potatoes in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) are often stored for up to 300 days after harvest with the expectation they can still be processed or used for fresh tablestock at the end of the storage period. Since stored potatoes represent a majority of the harvested crop, having a good understanding of storage characteristics of individual varieties is critical. Over the past 30 years, acres planted to varieties used for frozen processing and tablestock have increased by at least 30% with an associated decrease in acres planted to Russet Burbank. As the PNW potato industry adopts new varieties from regional, national and international breeding programs that have the potential to improve yield, quality and grower economic return, it is important to provide producers with necessary variety specific storage management guidelines that may help mitigate risks associated with long term storage of potatoes. The potato variety storage program at Kimberly, ID has evaluated over forty unreleased clones and commercial varieties over the past 23 years, providing the PNW potato industry with important details regarding variety response in storage including dormancy length and sprout development, monthly reducing sugar and sucrose profiles, monthly fry color and quality, susceptibility to Fusarium dry rot, shatter and blackspot bruise susceptibility, and monthly and overall weight loss. Some of these assessments are determined at multiple storage temperatures and durations in storage to critically assess the variety response and formulate variety specific best management practices for the potato industry.
Track
Extension, Production, and Management