Effect of ambient storage on physical and physiological parameters of different sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) genotypes

Abstract

The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is a semi-perishable commodity. Appropriate and efficient post harvest technology and marketing are critical to the entire production-consumption system of sweet potato because of its bulkiness and perishability. The purpose of storage is to maintain tubers in marketable condition and to provide a uniform flow of tubers to market and processing plants throughout the year. Therefore, present investigation on shelf-life and physicochemical parameters of 12 different sweet potato genotypes were studied in order to determine the varieties for better storage. Among them, the genotype BSP1 exhibited superior qualities like high value for dry matter (61.7%), total marketable tubers (80%), visible appearance (4), physiological loss in weight (13.5%) and weevil incidence (10%) throughout the storage period. The genotypes Sree Bhadra and BSP23 were the next best genotypes to maintain all the above mentioned characters.