Evaluation of potato rots in a warehouse of an industry of potato chips production

Potato rots caused by fungi are an important postharvest problem of this crop. In this work we studied the incidence of potato rots in a warehouse industry of potato chips production located in Villarquemado (Teruel, Spain). For this, two types of monitoring were performed: assessment and identification potato rots caused by fungi at harvest time in the field and before entering the store, and the assessment and identification of decay during prolonged storage in the industry. A total of 28 samples (14 in the field and 14 in storage) were studied. In each sampling type, an average of 10 tubers with symptoms of rotting caused by fungi were collected, and subsequently processed in the laboratory, for fungal isolation small fragments were seeded in PDAS plates. In the field phase, fungi belonging to the genus Fusarium were the main causal agents of tuber rots, with a combined incidence of 71.42% of the samples studied, followed by Alternaria sp. (28.57%) and Colletotrichum coccodes (21.43%). In the phase of storage, the most common fungi were also Fusarium, with an incidence of 100% of the samples studied. Colletotrichum coccodes, and Alternaria sp., also detected in the field, were found with an incidence of 42.86% and 7.14% of the samples, respectively. However, there were other species which only appeared on the storage: Geotrichum candidum, Pythium sp. and Rhizoctonia solani with 14.28% incidence each, and with 7.14% Gliocladium. (*) Thesis UPV July 2015 by David Lanzuela Licer, student, directed by Dr. Josep Armengol Fort?, jarmengo@eaf.upv.es, profesorPicture shows A: Colletotrichum coccodes. B: Fusarium sp. C: Rhizoctonia solani. D: Geotrichum candidum.