Effect of farming systems on the quantitative and qualitative composition of anthocyanins in potato tubers with red and purple flesh

Abstract

Potatoes are among the world’s most widely cultivated crops, so the conditions under which they are grown, and the impact of these conditions on qualitative and quantitative parameters of potatoes, are very important. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to estimate the effects of different farming systems on the quantitative and qualitative composition of anthocyanins in potato tubers with coloured flesh. Three potato cultivars (Red Emmalie (red flesh), Violetta (dark purple flesh) and Salad Blue (light purple flesh)) were cultivated at a farm in the Širvintos district of Lithuania. Potatoes were grown following traditional potato production technology in conventional, organic and biodynamic farming systems. The concentrations of anthocyanins and their derivatives were determined with a method described by Hallmann (2012)1 using the HPLC equipment. The results show that the conventional potatoes contained higher concentrations of total anthocyanins, as well of individual anthocyanins such as petunidin-3,5-di-O-glucoside, peonidin3,5-di-O-glucoside and pelargonidin-3,5-di-O-glucoside. The cultivar effect on the content of selected antocyanins in the samples was also observed. Vitelotte contained significantly more total anthocyanins (46.25 mg 100 g-1 DM), petunidin-3,5-di-O-glucoside (43.35 mg 100 g-1 DM), peonidin-3,5-di-O-glucoside (1.52 mg 100 g-1 DM) and pelargonidin-3,5-di-O-glucoside (1.39 mg 100 g-1 DM), in comparison to other studied cultivars. This study confirms that the farming systems may have a significant impact on quality of potato tubers. The conventional potatoes appeared to be richer in anthocyanins.