SCREENING POTATO CULTIVARS FOR LOW SUGAR ACCUMULATION DURING STORAGE AT VARIOUS STORAGE TEMPERATURES

Low sugars and light frying color are key traits to be observed during storage while assorting the potatoes for chips/fries preparation. Selecting the best cultivars reflects an important element for effective and economical processing by the industry. Six commercial potato cultivars were selected to evaluate their behavior and chipping potential regarding sugar accumulation during storage for a period of 160 days at various temperatures (3, 7 and 11 degrees C). All the temperatures posed significant effect on sugar contents during storage however, high sugar accumulation was noticed at 3 degrees C for all the cultivars ranged from 29.03 to 255.38 for glucose, 26.78 to 253.11 for fructose and 55.33 to 114.45 mg 100(-1) g fresh weight for sucrose. Storage at 11 degrees C had least effect on sugar accumulation than 3 degrees C and 7 degrees C. Chips color was used as an index to evaluate the processing quality as well as sugar accumulation. At the end of storage, sugar accumulation and chips color were found in order of (low to high) Lady Rosetta < Hermes < Crozo < Asterix < Sante < Kuroda. Consequently, significant variability among the cultivars was observed whereas Lady Rosetta (golden yellow), Hermes (slightly yellow) and Crozo (yellow) were found to be the most suitable cultivars for fries/chips preparation.