Potato Review

Delhi official calls for investigation into ‘chemical-laced’ potatoes POTATOES being sold in Delhi could be laced with harmful chemicals, it has been claimed. Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, has written a letter to the Lieutenant Governor about the poisonous vegetables and demanded an investigation by the Crime Branch. A report of Shriram Lab has claimed that potatoes, coated with plaster of paris, cement and yellow ‘chuna’ are being sold in Delhi which are dangerous for health and can cause serious illness. The chemical-rich potato is being brought from cities like Sambhal, Bareilly, and Chandausi, and being sold in the market in the name of ‘hill potatoes’. Chemicals are applied to sell substandard potatoes at high prices. It is dried in the sun so that it looks like a hill potato. POTATO REVIEW SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020 37 GLOBAL NEWS NEWS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE Polish study reveals potential health bene ts RESULTS of a Polish study looking into the polyphenol content in three edible potato cultivars depending on biostimulants used, has revealed that choice of cultivar and biostimulant can play an important role in consumer health. Polyphenols are micronutrients that we get through certain plant-based foods.They’re packed with antioxidants and potential health benefits. It’s thought that polyphenols can improve or help treat digestion issues, weight management diŠculties, diabetes, neurodegenerative disease, and cardiovascular diseases. The study was carried out by three research facilities in Poland with the aim of assessing the polyphenol content in tubers of three edible potato cultivars. Field research was carried out between 2016–2018 with an application of biostimulants in individual farms in Poland. The experiment was led by means of a split-plot method. The impact of two factors was tested. The first- order factor were the three cultivars of edible potato: Jelly, Honorata, Tajfun, while of the second–order four variants of applying biostimulants: Kelpak SL, Titanit, GreenOk, BrunatneBio Złoto. Potato plants were treated with biostimulators three times (beginning of flowering, full flowering and after plant flowering). The polyphenol content was determined by spectrophotometric method with Folin–Ciocâlteu reagent in fresh potato tuber mass. The content of polyphenols in tubers depended on the cultivars and biostimulants. Among the studied cultivars, Jelly accumulated the most polyphenols and Tajfun the least. Biostimulants increased the concentration of phenolic compounds compared to tubers from the control treatment. Tubers of plants treated with biostimulants contained larger amounts polyphenols than potatoes from control treatments. A diŸerentiated reaction of varieties to the applied biostimulants was observed. The BrunatneBio Złoto preparation increased the concentration of polyphenols to the largest extent in the cultivar Jelly, which is confirmed by the proven interaction of varieties with biostimulants. The polyphenol content in potato tubers was significantly diŸerentiated by the genotype of the cultivar. The obtained results indicate that the choice of the cultivar and biostimulants is important with respect to the polyphenol accumulation capacity in potato tubers. Weather conditions, especially the small amount of rainfall in 2016, contributed to the increase in polyphenols. Indian growers facing losses POTATO growers in Belagavi, a city in the southwest Indian state of Karnataka, are facing seasonal disaster after seeds failed to germinate. Belagavi is the only Indian township (taluk) in the district where potatoes are cultivated during the Kharif season, sown at the beginning of the summer rains, in the red and black soil in rain-fed areas. Farmers grow potato in about 2,500 hectares of land. The area of cultivation has been shrinking year by year because of changing climatic conditions and low yield against expectation but some farmers continue to cultivate the crop. But this time, the farmers are facing immediate loss as the seeds they have sown are believevd to be of substandard quality, according to The Indian Express. The APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) is a marketing board established by a state government in India to ensure farmers are safeguarded from exploitation by large retailers. The commission agents who trade potato in the APMC market in Belagavi give the seeds on credit to the farmers every year and obtain the seeds from Jalandhar in Punjab. Farmers have bought the seeds by paying Rs 2,400 per quintal. Appasaheb Desai, a farmer leader, told an Indian Express represesntative: “Hundreds of farmers have bought the seeds by taking out loans. But most of the seeds are of poor quality and sold at a high price to the farmers. A potato grower spends about Rs 50,000 per acre of cultivation. A farmers’ protest was due to held before the Deputy Commissioner’s oŠce to bring this loss to the government’s notice but Ravindra Hakati, Deputy Director of the horticulture department has said it is diŠcult to intervene as many growers buy seed from private trading companies and do not obtain proof of purchase. A survey is to be conducted and samples collected and analysed.