Phytochemicals determination and classification in purple and red fleshed potato tubers by analytical methods and near infrared spectroscopy.

BACKGROUND: Over the last two decades, the attractive colours and shapes of pigmented tubers and the increasing concern about the relationship between nutrition and health have contributed to the expansion of their consumption and a specialty market. Thus, we have quantified the concentration of health promoting compounds such as soluble phenolics, monomeric anthocyanins, carotenoids, vitamin C, and hydrophilic antioxidant capacity, in a collection of 18 purple- and red-fleshed potato accessions. RESULTS: Cultivars and breeding lines high in vitamin C, such as Blue Congo, Morada and Kasta, have been identified. Deep purple cultivars Violet Queen, Purple Peruvian and Vitelotte showed high levels of soluble phenolics, monomeric anthocyanins, and hydrophilic antioxidant capacity, whereas relatively high carotenoid concentrations were found in partially yellow coloured tubers, such as Morada, Highland Burgundy Red, and Violet Queen. CONCLUSION: The present characterisation of cultivars and breeding lines with high concentrations of phytochemicals is an important step both to support the consideration of specialty potatoes as a source of healthy compounds, and to obtain new cultivars with positive nutritional characteristics. Moreover, by using near infrared spectroscopy a non-destructive identification and classification of samples with different levels of phytochemicals is achieved, offering an unquestionable contribution to the potato industry for future automatic discrimination of varieties.

A review of the application of near-infrared spectroscopy for the analysis of potatoes.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the most important crops in the world being considered as a staple food in many developing countries. The potato industry like other vegetable and fruit industries is subject to the current demand of quality products. In order to meet this challenge, the food industry is relying on the adoption of nondestructive and environmentally friendly techniques to determine quality of products. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is currently one of the most advanced nondestructive technologies regarding instrumentation and application, and it also complies with the environment requirements as it does not generate emissions or waste. This paper reviews research progress on the analysis of potatoes by NIRS both in terms of determination of constituents and classification according to the different constituents of the tubers. A brief description of the fundamentals of NIRS technology and its advantages over other quality assessment techniques is included. Finally, future prospects of the development of NIRS technology at the industrial level are explored.