Effect of location, season and cultivar on the processing quality of potatoes

The effect of location, season and cultivar on the processing quality of potatoes was studied for five years (1997–2002) using three cultivars. The crops were raised at eleven locations of All India Coordinated Potato Improvement Project representing most of the potato growing regions in the country and the tubers were analysed for processing quality parameters. An average dry matter content of 20% and above was observed at Deesa, Dholi, Jorhat, Kota, Chindwara and Faizabad. The reducing sugar content was less than 100 mg/100g tuber f. wt at Deesa, Dholi, Jorhat and Kota and the low level of reducing sugars resulted in an average chip colour score of 4 and below at these four places. The sucrose content was below 200 mg/100g tuber f. wt at Jorhat, Kota and Chindwara. The results reported here provide experimental evidence to show that potatoes grown in warmer areas contain higher dry matter content and lower level of reducing sugars resulting in higher yield of good quality chips, and these parameters vary considerably from season (year) to season in the same location. Amongst cultivars, Kufri Jyoti gave higher dry matter content at several locations.