Suitability of different potato cultivars for processing

Five potato cultivars viz. ‘Lady Rosette’, ‘FC-3’, ‘Super’, ‘Kufri Khyati’ and ‘Kufri Pushkar’ were evaluated to find out their suitability for processing into fresh fried potato chips and dehydrated products such as dehydrated potato slices and flour. Significant differences in physico-chemical and phytochemical parameters were observed among the cultivars. ‘FC-3’ and ‘Lady Rosette’ contained the highest amount of dry matter content (22.0%, 21.4%) and lowest amount of reducing sugars (0.08%, 0.06%), respectively and produced chips of acceptable color and higher yield. While cultivars ‘Super’, ‘Kufri Khyati’ and ‘Kufri Pushkar’ were found inferior for processing due to poor quality traits. However, Super’ and ‘Kufri Khyati’ were considered best for direct consumption since they contained the highest amount of bioactive compounds including ascorbic acid, total phenolics and total antioxidant activity. Based on sensory characteristics, ‘Lady Rosette’ and ‘FC-3’ were best for processing into fresh fried potato chips and dehydrated slices. All the cultivars produced good quality potato flour but recovery of flour was maximum in ‘FC-3’ (19.40%), followed by ‘Lady Rosette’ (19.0%), while the recovery of flour from other cultivars varied between 14.80% to 15.0%.