Action of essential oils on sprouting of non-dormant potato tubers

The breakdown of dormancy and early sprouting is one of the main causes of losses of stored potatoes. Sprouting control becomes important especially when tubers are submitted to longterm storage for further processing. The objective of this work is to evaluate the effect of organic sprout inhibitors, eugenol and menthol essential oils, on the suppression of growth on non-dormant ?Asterix? tubers stored at 8 ?C. The tubers were exposed to the compounds by vaporization. For each treatment, samples were collected in six different periods, before application (day 0) and 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 days after application, in order to verify possible differences between treatments.? Administration of eugenol and menthol essential oils reduced the number and the length of sprouts during storage up to fifty days, but stimulated the break of apical dominance. The effect of the oils was restricted to the necrosis superficial sprout cells without any apparent effect on the periderm.? Sources Action of essential oils on sprouting of non-dormant potato tubers Mirelle N. de S. Santos1, Fernanda F. Araujo1, Paula C.C. Lima1, Ariana M. Pereira2, Pola A.H. Mart?nez2, Fernando L. Finger21 Department of Vegetal Biology, Federal University of Vi?osa, Vi?osa, MG 36570-900, Brazil.2 Department of Crop Science, Federal University of Vi?osa, Vi?osa, MG 36570-900, Brazil.IX Congreso Iberoamericano Tecnolog?a, Postcosecha y Agroexportaciones, 29 de noviembre al 1 de diciembre de 2017, Santiago de Chile.?Abstracts Picture by?AgroWeb Key words: Solanum tuberosum L., sprout suppressants, apical meristem