Storage behaviour and processing quality of potatoes stored in heaps and pits in the Malwa region (MP)*

Heap and pit, the two traditional methods of potato storage in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh were studied under on-farm conditions. The variation in the ambient temperature during the course of the day was 7°C, while the day-time variation in the temperature inside heap, katcha pit and pucca pit was 0.5°C, 1.3°C and 0.8°C, respectively, indicating that these were relatively stable storage systems. The variation in RH was 2.2 to 6.7% inside the storage systems while it was 17% outside. The temperature inside heap, katcha pit and pucca pit was lower than the ambient by 10.3°C, 10.5°C and 1l.6°C, respectively, and the RH was higher by 39, 36.4 and 42.9%, respectively. Sprout weight at the end of the storage period (3–4 months) varied from 0.4 to 0.8%. There was no significant difference in the weight loss which varied from 3.1 to 4.8%. While the weight loss was within the acceptable limit, rottage was unacceptably high (10.4–21.4%) indicating that there is scope for reducing losses due to rottage and to increase the efficiency of these storage systems.