Effect of Curing Period, Plant Hormone and On-farm Storage Methods on Physiological Losses of Potato (Solanum tuberosum) Tubers

Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate the role of curing period, exogenous Abscisic Acids (ABA) levels and on farm storage methods on the physiological quality losses of potato tubers during storage. The research was set out in a Split-Split-Plot Design (SSPD) with curing period allocated to the main plot while storage condition and ABA levels assigned to subplot and sub-sub-plot respectively. The treatments were replicated thrice and factorially combined to give a 4 × 3 × 3 experiment. Each treatment consisted of 20 potato tubers out which three were randomly selected and earmarked for data collection. Data on percentage physiological weight and shriveling losses were recorded fortnightly throughout the storage period whereas temperature, relative humidity and wind velocity were monitored weekly. Collected data were analysed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) appropriate to split-split plot design using Genstat. Means showing significant difference was separated using Least Significant Difference (LSD) at 0.05% level of probability. The results showed that, ABA levels had highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) influence on both percentage physiological weight and shrinkage losses at 8 and 10 Weeks After Storage (WAS) respectively while percentage shrinkage loss was significantly (P < 0.05) affected by ABA level at both 2 WAS and 12 WAS. There was also a highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) interaction of curing periods and storage conditions on both percentage weight and shriveling loss at 8 WAS and 10 WAS respectively. Five days curing period, shaded pit storage and application of 4 ppm of ABA to potato tubers under ambient conditions had minimum physiological losses of potato tubers in the study area.