The influence of different temperatures and exposition time on potato tuber sprouting and development of plants

Abstract

Research on the influence of different temperatures and exposition time on potato tuber sprouting was carried out at the Laboratory of Food Raw Materials, Agronomic and Zootechnical Research, Faculty of Agronomy, Lithuanian University of Agriculture, in the year 2009. Chemical analyses of potato tubers were carried out at the Laboratory of Chemical Research, Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture. Field tests on potato development were carried out at the Experimental Station of the Lithuanian University of Agriculture. The biometric parameters of potato plants were determined at the Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Lithuanian Institute of Horticulture. Different temperatures - I0°C-+50°C influenced the tuber sprouting. The highest number of sprouts, compared to the primary number of eyes, was established in the tubers of potato cv. 'Goda' exposed to -10°C for 60 min (192.6%) and to +50°C for 90 min (194.7%); and in the tubers of potato cv. 'Solara' exposed to -10°C for 60 min (126.1%) and to +30°C for 60 min (167.8%). The tubers, exposed to +30- +50°C temperatures at all exposition times, were established to have the strongest significant influence on the formation of haulms. This increased the number of stems per haulm by 1.5-1.8 times, and leaf area by 77-80% in comparison with the control plants. The plants, whose tubers had been exposed to -10°C, were shorter than the control plants. Analysis of the influence of different temperatures and exposition time showed that protein percent in tubers of cv. 'Goda' significantly increased having exposed them to +30°C for 30 and 60 min, and to +50°C for 60 min -13%, in tubers of 'Solara' having exposed them to -10°C for 30 min up to 20% and to +40°C for 30 min up to 23%, in comparison to the control plants.