The effect of harvest dates on the starch properties of various potato cultivars

The effect of harvest dates on the starch properties of six potato cultivars was studied. The focus was on the content of amylose and phosphorus, mean granule size, viscosity analysis by rapid visco analyzer, thermal analysis by differential scanning calorimetry, and chain length distribution of amylopectin. A late harvest date significantly enhanced mean granule size, the phosphorus content, peal: viscosity and breakdown. Furthermore, a late harvest date led to significant but slight decreases in amylose content, pasting temperature, and gelatinization temperature. In contrast, harvest date had no influences on gelatinization enthalpy on distribution of the shorter chain lengths of amylopectin. The correlation coefficients were calculated among these starch properties, and starch phosphorus content was found to have positively significant correlations with the peak viscosity and breakdown. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.