Impact of the length of the storage period on physiological age and crop performance of four contrasting potato varietie
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Impact of the length of the storage period on physiological age and crop performance of four contrasting potato varieties (Solanum tuberosum L.) grown in a Mediterranean environment R. Mediouni1 • K. Mokrani2
•
N. Tarchoun2
Received: 6 May 2020 / Accepted: 28 July 2020 Ó Indian Society for Plant Physiology 2020
Abstract Physiological age of seed potato tubers could limit crop productivity. In this research, physiological and biochemical methods were used to assess the impact of seed age on crop performance of cvs Liseta, Spunta, Bellini and Mondial. Physiological age impact was assessed at different growth stages, namely: tuber initiation, tuber bulking and tuber maturation. Results suggest that yield decrease due to seed ageing was significantly correlated with the decline of sprouts characters of mother tubers resulting in decrease in the number of stems. Seed age also influenced chlorophyll fluorescence of photosynthetic leaves. The Fv/Fm (maximum quantum yield of Photosystem II), was lower during tuber induction and tuber initiation in plants from young seed tubers and decreased with the achievement of the tuberization process. Our study clearly indicated that starch accumulation decreased with the seed age which result in a reduced plant productivity. Keywords Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Physiological age Tuberization process Cultivar Photosynthesis Yiels
& K. Mokrani [email protected] 1
Biology Laboratory, Biology Departement - University of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia
2
Vegetable Laboratory, Horticulture Department - Higher Agronomic Institute of Chott Meriem, University of Sousse, 4042 Chott Meriem, Tunisia
Introduction Tuberization in potato plant is marked by several events, which are sprout initiation and elongation, vegetative growth, tuber initiation and bulking and finally maturation (Ewing and Struik 1992). After maturation, the tuber life cycle will consist of dormancy, apical dominance, sprouting, and tuber senescence. These different development stages of the mother tuber are called chronological age (Struik and Wiersema 1999). The chronological age together with environmental conditions determine the physiological age, resulting from biochemical changes taking place within the tuber (Struik 2007), which is a limiting factor in tuber yield of a potato crop; it affects tuber quality (Caldiz and Gaspari 1997), first by affecting the individual bud of the seed tuber and therefore affects the number of sprouts per eye and the vigor of each of these sprouts (Struik 2009). It also influences the crop performance, including emergence percentage, number of stems and tuber yield (Moll 1994). Therefore, tuber quality (physiological age, shape, size and health of a seed tuber) is influenced by growth conditions, crop management and storage conditions which affect tuber yield of a potato crop (Burton 1989; Struik and Wiersema 1999). Many authors reported that the seed age differs between cultivars (Caldiz 1994; Struik and Wiersema 199
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