Effect of impact body shape on subcutaneous tissue discolouration in potato tubers

摘要

abstract_textpIn the modern potato industry the economies of scale demand that all production and handling processes must be highly mechanized. Mechanization is usually associated with increased damage. The shape of impacting surfaces is an important factor that affects damage in potatoes./ppWe investigated the relation between the radius of curvature of the impact body at a given level of energy and the resulting volume and depth of discoloured tissue as measure of damage. Tubers were impacted at a desired rate and by a desired impact body shape with a computer-controlled pendulum. The tubers were from plants grown at mio different levels of potassium fertilizer (i.e. susceptibilities to tissue discolouration) and stored for 3, 5 or 7 months./ppA spherical impact body doubled the volume and depth of discoloured tissue, relative to a non-spherical impact body. The differences in volume and depth of discoloured tissue after impact with spherical impact bodies (radii of curvature 30 or 15 mm) was minimal. Reducing the impact energy from 0.600 to 0.067 J yielded an average reduction of the volume of discoloured tissue of ca 95 and an average reduction of the depth of discoloured tissue of cn 80./ppFuture potato handling lines may take these findings into account, by lowering the use of spherical impact bodies and the level of impact energy./p/abstract_text