Department of Botany, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra-132 119.
About 3 month old potato tubers were stored under two different temperatures (10 ± 2 and 40 ± 2°C) with 90 per cent RH. Potatoes showed an increase in the amount of reducing and non-reducing sugars irrespective of the tuber zone and storage temperature. However, the amount of sugars was slightly higher in peripheral than the central region in most of the cases. Storage of tubers for 20 days resulted in a marked decrease in starch along with increased a-amylase activity. The starch breakdown and a-amylase activity were higher at 40 ± 2°C than at 10 ± 2°C. During first 10 days of storage, the decrease in protein content was higher in central than peripheral region although the values were almost similar after 30 days even at both temperatures. A sharp decrease in protease activity in potatoes was noticed at 10 ± 2°C after 10 days while at higher temperature almost the same value was maintained.
