Vol. 75 No: 5

Title:
Postharvest handling, transport and quality of sweet potato in Tanzania

Authors:
K.I. TOMLINS, G.T. NDUNGURU, E. RWIZA and A. WESTBY

pp: 586-590

Abstract:
Commercial consignments of sacks of sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas (L) Lam, cvs. Polista and SPN/0, were surveyed, over two seasons, from harvest to markets at Mwanza and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. The handling and transport system resulted in up to 20% and 86% of roots with severe breaks and skinning injury respectively. Reductions in market value were up to 13%. Impact loggers located at the centre of sacks indicated that the most severe impacts (greater than 20 g) occurred during unloading and loading from road vehicles and ships. However, skinning injury and broken roots were correlated with a large number of minor impacts (2 g or lower). Cultivar or season did not generally affect the responses. The use of cardboard boxes filled with fewer roots instead of overfilled polypropylene sacks and adoption of improved management procedures in the handling and transport are recommended.

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