Effects of post-harvest salicylic acid and maleic hydrazide applications on the chemical characteri̇sti̇cs and shoot formation of potatoes during storage

The aim of this study was to minimize the changes in the physiological and chemical structures of Marabel and Agria potato varieties by applying salicylic acid (SA) (0, 500 and 1000 ppm) and Maleic Hydrazide (MH) (0, 1500 ppm and 3000 ppm) prior to storage. The experiment was established according to the factorial design in completely randomized plots with 3 replicates. The solutions were applied to the tubers by pulverization, and the storage process was terminated at the end of the 150th day. Depending on applications statistically significant differences were found for weight loss, dry matter ratio, vitamin C content, total sugar ratio, reducing sugar ratio, sucrose, protein, total phenolic content, total antioxidant capacity (DPPH), and total watersoluble content of the traits during storage. Statistically significant differences were also found in the shoot ratio, number of shoots per tuber and shoot length values. In both varieties, the least weight loss values compared to the control was obtained from the 1500 ppm MH treatment. In untreated tubers, the increase in dry matter content was 26% in Marabel cultivar compared to the beginning, while Agria cultivar performed worse and reached 41%. Total sugar content increased in both potato varieties at the end of storage. The highest increase in Marabel was 28.57% in plots treated with 500 ppm SA x 1500 ppm MH, while it was 35.37% in Agria in plots treated with 3000 ppm MH. Compared to untreated tubers, 500 ppm SA and 1500 ppm MH reduced shoot formation by about 30% in Agria variety. In Marabel potato variety, SA alone inhibited the increase of number of shoots by 25%. As a result, it can be said that SA and MH treatments can be effective in reducing tuber quality losses during the storage process depending on cultivars. In this study the storage performance of the Marabel potato variety is generally better than Agria in terms of the parameters examined.