The Harvested Crop

Publisher Summary This chapter considers the nutritionally important characteristics of the harvested crop and some of the morphological and biochemical aspects associated with quality and defects that affect suitability for the marketplace. The nutritional value of the crop is a major impetus for breeding and development programs in developing countries and also from a consumer's perspective in more sophisticated markets. Improved protein content and nutritional value can be affected by growth and development and by subsequent storage. The chemical composition of potato is fairly conservative, and variation depends largely on the genetic features of the variety, although tubers of the same variety, and even tubers from the same plant, can vary in levels of particular contents. The chemical composition is also affected by environmental conditions during production and subsequent storage of the crop. Practical progress has been achieved since then by greater attention to temperatures at harvesting and reducing numbers and size of damaging impacts. The understanding of the relationship between bruising and tuber turgor is beginning to lead to a better understanding of the practical potential that could be available to growers to minimize bruising through crop water management. If this could be integrated, in the future, with diagnostic systems that reliably predict the biochemical potential of crop to bruise susceptibility, then there are real opportunities to improve the quality of potatoes delivered to end-users.