Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.) is one of the major tropical root crops of the world and it is widely distributed throughout the tropical and temperate regions of Africa, Asia and the Americas. During harvest and post-harvest handling, the skin can be separated from the underlying tissue of the storage root. Storage root damage contributed to income losses for producers. To minimize these loses, producers set the skin of the sweetpotato by removal of the vines prior to harvest. New mechanical (undercutting) and cultural (biochar) methods were developed and tested. Mechanical undercutting would sever the feeder roots of the plant causing drought stress and initiate the skin set reaction. Application of biochar was used to change soil physical properties to reduce skinning in storage roots. The new practices may give producers options to increase the storage life of the crop.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MSSTATE/oai:scholarsjunction.msstate.edu:td-4041 |
| Date | 17 May 2014 |
| Creators | Hayes, Bradley Hodge |
| Publisher | Scholars Junction |
| Source Sets | Mississippi State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
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