Abstract
ABSTRACTPotato chips are the most popular snack food in the United States with annual retail sales of over US$6 billion. Stem‐end chip defect, which is characterized by dark color of the vasculature and surrounding tissues at the tuber stem end portion of fried chips, is an important tuber quality concern for U.S. chip production. The cause of stem‐end chip defect is not known. Verticillium wilt, caused by a vascular fungal pathogen Verticillium dahliae Kleb., is a persistent disease of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) and other vegetables that causes early plant senescence and yield reductions. A 2‐yr field trial was conducted to investigate the effects of V. dahliae on stem‐end chip defect development and the activity of acid invertase at the apical (bud) and basal (stem) ends of tubers. Our results show that potato plants that were more infected with V. dahliae had a higher incidence of severe stem‐end chip defects than plants with less V. dahliae infection. Verticillium dahliae infection of plants was correlated with an upregulation of acid invertase activity and an accumulation of reducing sugars on the stem end of tubers. Reducing sugars give rise to dark‐colored defects as a result of pigments produced by the Maillard reaction during frying.
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