PDF file - Israel Trade Commission

Agriculture 2011
Sprouting Inhibition of
Postharvest Potatoes
by using Environment
Friendly Mint Essential Oil
Dani Eshel 1 , Paula Teper-Bamnolker
1 , Roi Amitay 2 and Harry
Daniel 2
1. Department of Postharvest
Science, The Volcani Center, Bet
Dagan 50250, Israel.
2. Agro-Dan 2008 Ltd, Israel.
Fig. 1: Effect of monthly application of mint essential oil (MEO) on
potato tubers from cultivar Belini, stored for 9 months at 10°C.
Fig. 2: Effect of mint essential oil (MEO) thermal fogging on potato
sprouting in storage. Tubers from eight cultivars were stored for
6 months. All tubers were stored at 8°C and 95% humidity and
were thermally fogged monthly with MEO at 100 ml t-1 in the first
application and 30 ml t-1 monthly in subsequent applications.
Dashed line represents the level above which potatoes are no
longer marketable. Error bars represent SE.
Introduction: The potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the
highest gross value crop in Israel and the world’s largest
food crop in terms of fresh produce after rice and wheat.
Postharvest potatoes suffer from undesirable sprouting
during storage leading to alterations in weight, turgidity,
and texture. Tuber sprouting during storage is caused
by the cessation of natural dormancy of the tuber. Cold
temperature storage (2-4°C) delays sprout development
but does not delay unacceptable tissue sweetening.
Successful long-term storage of potatoes for market,
processing or seed-tubers necessitates using a sprout
control agent in combination with proper management
of storage conditions. Chlorpropham (isopropyl N-[3-
chlorophenyl] carbamate; CIPC) is the most effective
post-harvest sprout inhibitor registered for use in potato
storage, used successfully as a sprout inhibitor for more
than 40 years. It is a mitotic inhibitor that inhibits sprout
development by interfering with cell division and is
effective in long-term sprout control. There have been
reports of residue levels in processed potato products
and both the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
and the ”Advisory Committee on Pesticides (APC) in the
UK put new limits on total CIPC application and residue.
Random sampling has shown that there is potential
to exceed the maximum residue limit, even when
applications have been made according to best practice
(http://www.pro-potato.com). For seed-tuber growers,
CIPC residues are problematic in cases where it would
be desirable to rapidly break tuber dormancy. Also,
potato seed-tubers cannot be treated or stored in CIPC
storage facilities, because of the long term negative
effect on field germination. Alternatives to CIPC are also
needed for both the organic and export markets where
CIPC is not permitted or residue level is limited. Due
to increased concern for consumer health and safety,
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