POST-HARVEST LOSS FACTOR ASSESSMENT AND TUBER STORABILITY EVALUATION OF POTATO (Solanum tuberosum L.) VARIETIES UNDER DIFFERENT STORAGE STRUCTURES IN GUMMER DISTRICT, CENTRAL ETHIOPIA

Abstract

In the study area,there is huge potato production with high post harvest loss . Therefore, the current study was initiated to assess the main factors responsible for postharvest losses of potatoes and to evaluate tuber storability using different storage structures. For the survey, a total of 120 farmers and 6 key informants were interviewed from four (4) kebeles which were selected purposively. A descriptive research design was employed and quantitative data were measured and analyzed by using SPSS software version 20. The results indicated that inadequate awareness, lack of appropriate harvesting materials inappropriate harvest maturity determination and storage facilities as well and market uncertainty were as the main factors that contribute to the prevailing high level of postharvest losses of potatoes in the area. The result indicated that 62% of the respondents have no awareness, 23% have medium awareness and 15% have low awareness of postharvest losses and postharvest handling methods for potato tubers. For harvesting, majority of the respondents (63.3%) use rake to dugout tubers. For the experiment, four storage structures (pit, bamboo baskets, floor, and loft) and two potato varieties (Gudene and ‘Key dinch’) were laid out in 4×2 Complete block Block design, and data were collected frequently in a time interval. The analysis of variance showed that the main effect of variety, storage structure, and time was significantly influenced all the postharvest parameters except variety and pH content of the tuber. The lowest weight loss (6.11 and 6.22) was recorded from pit storage and at 30 days of storage, respectively. The longest days to 50% sprouting were obtained from all treatment interactions except from the variety Gudene interacted with the floor (72 days) and with basket storage (72 days). None of the tubers were sprouted by the interaction of Gudene with the loft method and were stored for 30, 60, and 90 days after storage. The highest dry matter content (24.5%) was obtained from tubers stored in the pit after 90 days of storage whereas the lowest dry matter content (21.5%) was obtained from tubers stored on the floor for 90 days after storage. for better storage stability of potato tubers, loft storage method with Gudene variety were found to be more ideal for extending the storage or shelf-life of the tubers.