Potatoes, members of the Solanaceae plant family, serve as a major, inexpensive food source for both energy (starch) and good-quality protein, with worldwide production of about 350 million tons per year. U.S. per capita consumption of potatoes is about 61 kg/year. Potatoes also produce potentially toxic glycoalkaloids, both during growth and after harvest. Glycoalkaloids appear to be more toxic to man than to other animals. The toxicity may be due to anticholinesterase activity of the glycoalkaloids on the central nervous system and to disruptions of cell membranes affecting the digestive system and other organs. The possible contribution of glycoalkaloids to the multifactorial aspects of teratogenicity is inconclusive. Possible safe levels are controversial; guidelines limiting glycoalkaloid content of potato cultivars are currently being debated. This review presents an integrated, critical assessment of the multifaceted aspects of the role glycoalkaloids play in nutrition and food safety; che...

Potato glycoalkaloids: chemistry, analysis, safety, and plant physiology

LITTLE IS KNOWN about the factors which determine tuber formation in the potato and in other tuberous plants. Most of the work with potatoes has dealt with the finding of conditions under which the plant produces its maximum yield, breeding new varieties for yield and disease resistance, and with studies dealing with the tuber itself. Several authors (Dostal, 1945; Deusse, 1947) have postulated the existence of a specific, hormone-like, transmissible factor for tuberization. Doposzheg-Uhlar (1911) attempted the isolation of a substance of the above nature from Gloxinia, but without conclusive results. On the other hand, others have suggested that tuber formation is a matter of surplus carbohydrates formed by the potato plant. (Driver and Hawkes, 1943; Arthur et al., 1930.) Bernard (1902) attempted to show that tuberization is brought about by the symbiotic relationships of the plant and a fungus. At present this fungal theory has not been entirely discarded.

Some factors for tuberization in the potato plant

Varieties differ in their ability to produce a, dependable crop. In New York experience has shown Katahdin and Cobbler to be favorable in this respect, whereas Green Mountain has a reputation of being variable

A technique for evaluating the ability of selections to yield consistently in different locations or seasons

Summary

Potatoes destined for making chips, French fries and other fried products, need to have low sugar content to avoid browning of the finished product. The sugar content of potatoes is determined by the genotype and several pre- and post-harvest factors. The major pre-harvest factors affecting sugar content are crop maturity, temperature during growth, mineral nutrition and irrigation, while important post-harvest factors are mechanical stresses and storage conditions. Each genotype requires an ideal pre-and post-harvest treatment to maintain low sugar levels; any kind of stress results in sugar accumulations.

An overview of the factors affecting sugar content of potatoes

https://www.cell.com/trends/plant-science/pdf/S1360-1385(07)00180-X.pdf

The intragenic approach as a new extension to traditional plant breeding.

Lenape: A new potato variety high in solids and chipping quality

The potato — its genetic and environmental variability

The Kennebec is a new variety of potato that combines high yield and good cooking quality with a high degree of resistance to late blight in both vines and tubers. In field-exposure tests it has not yet shown the symptoms of mild mosaic or net necrosis. It is late in maturing as grown in Maine, but has been considered medium-late in tests in other States. It is widely adapted. It produces smooth, well-shaped tubers with shallow eyes. Like all other varieties of potatoes, it varies in quality according to the environment in which it is grown and the cultural practices of the growers. As produced in the test plots on Aroostook Farm, Presque Isle, Maine, it has shown excellent market and cooking quality. The keeping qualities in storage appear to be excellent. Kennebec should replace Katahdin in some sections because of its higher yielding ability, its superior cooking quality, and its high degree of resistance to late blight. It should replace Sebago to a large extent because of a higher degree of resistance to late blight and because the tubers of Kennebec are more easily detached from the vines at harvest time than are those of Sebago.

Kennebec: A new potato variety resistant to late blight, mild mosaic, and net necrosis

The development of green color in tim tubers of potatoes exposed to light is a familiar effect commonly referred to as \"sunburnt,\" \"lightstruck,\" or \"greening.\" Most potatoes properly cared for from production through harvest, in storage, and on the market will not be green, but unfortunately, avoiding all traces of greening before potatoes reach the consumer is often impossible. At harvest occasionally there is 5 to 10% of \"sunburnt\" potatoes in the field because of poor soil coverage and subsequent exposure to sunlight. After harvest, other sources of light may also add to tuber greening while the potatoes are being stored, graded, and packaged for the retail market, where further light exposure may occur in varying amounts and intensities. Although some of these exposures may be of short duration, or the light weak, the effects tend to be cunmlative so that the ultimate intensity of greening may be serious. Differences in the chlorophyll development in tubers of certain potato varieties have been noted by several investigators (4, 9, 10), none of whom attached particular importance to these differences because they were not large. Potato varieties and seedlings, however, differ markedly in their tendency to green under light exposures similar to those that exist in retail stores. The economic importance of .a nongreening commercial potato variety, especially for the fresh market trade, is without question. Differences in greening responses of potatoes to illumination are believed to be inherited, making potato breeding a logical approach toward a solution to the problem. Marketing studies (1, 3, 12) indicated the importance of potato greening in retail stores when potatoes were exposed in bulk bins and in open-type bags. Hardenburg (6) and Lutz and Findlen (11) reported that potato greening in different types of consumer bags was proportional to the visibility which the package allowed. Howard and others (7) , working with scrubbed White Rose potatoes, showed that scrubbed potatoes after exposure to fluorescent light contained more chlorophyll than unscrubbed. Waxing potatoes was reported (7, I t ) to have no effect in preventing greening. Larsen (9) , Folsom (4) , Liljemark and Widoff (10), and others studied several factors that affect greening in potatoes. Larsen and Folsom both reported that greening developed faster at room temperature than in cold storage. Larsen found no differences in greening due to humidity levels or maturity of tubers at harvest and found also that increasing light intensity increased greening but not in direct proportion. Of several colors of light tested, green was found (9, 10) to induce the least production of chlorophyll. Treatments with gamma ray dosages of 110 kalrods and with 3-amino-l,2,4-triazole by Schwimmer and Weston ( t 4 ) were reported to inhibit the formation of chlorophyll in

Robert V. Akeley

Papers

Lenape: A new potato variety high in solids and chipping quality

The potato — its genetic and environmental variability

Kennebec: A new potato variety resistant to late blight, mild mosaic, and net necrosis

Genetic differences in potato-tuber greening

Observations on genetic, physiological, and environmental factors affecting the vitamin C content of Maine-grown potatoes