The rate of respiration of potato tubers during storage. 3. Relationships between rate of respiration,weight loss and other variables

Summary In 1973 the rate of respiration of stored potato tubers was highest in those cultivars which had the greatest weight loss, but this was not found in 1972. The rate of respiration could almost completely be explained by the factors storage temperature, degree of sprouting and storage duration, and the interactions between these factors. The main effects often had a strong curvilinear component. The increase in rate of respiration found after one and a half years of storage at low temperatures was cuased by physiological deterioration of the tubers. Paper No 690, Department of Vegetable Crops, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853, USA