Location: Small Grain and Food Crops Quality Research
Project Number: 3060-21430-009-010-T
Project Type: Trust Fund Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jun 1, 2020
End Date: May 30, 2025
Objective:
To gain an understanding of harvest management and variety selection and their combined impact on bruising and postharvest storage quality.
Approach:
Potatoes will be sampled from three market classes (fresh, fry, and chip processing). Samples will be collected from ongoing variety trials and across commercial grower operations where harvest management notes will be obtained prior to sampling. Immediately following harvest, replicate samples will be placed in 1000# macrobin storage totes at the East Grand Forks, MN facility, where simulated pile pressure is applied. Storage temperature and humidified air flow will follow standard commercial practices. Plate pressure will be applied to the tote to simulate pressures observed in commercial potato storage facilities. After six months of storage, water loss, bruise incidence and bruise severity notes will be collected. Processing quality of respective chip and fry varieties will also be documented after 6 months of storage.
