Sustainability in Food and Agriculture (SFNA) 2(1) (2021) 51-56 Cite the Article: Kalika P. Upadhyay, Neela Paudel, Sunil Aryal, Resona Simkhada, Bikash Bhusal, Bihani Thapa, Giridhari Subedi, Ishwori P. Gau tam (2021). Post-Harvest Losses of Potato Genotypes at Farmers' Storage Conditions. Sustainability in Food and Agriculture, 2(1): 51-56. ISSN: 2716-6716 (Online) CODEN: SFAUBO RESEARCH ARTICLE Sustainability in Food and Agriculture (SFNA) DOI: http://doi.org/10.26480/sfna.01.2021.51.56 POST-HARVEST LOSSES OF POTATO GENOTYPES AT FARMERS' STORAGE CONDITIONS Kalika P. Upadhyay a , Neela Paudel a , Sunil Aryal b , Resona Simkhada b , Bikash Bhusal b , Bihani Thapa a , Giridhari Subedi a , Ishwori P. Gautam c a National Potato Research Program, Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal. b Entomology Research Division, Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal. c Horticulture Research Division, Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal. *Corresponding Author Email: kalikaupadhyay@yahoo.com This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ARTICLE DETAILS ABSTRACT Article History: Received 17 February 2021 Accepted 21 March 2021 Available online 23 April 2021 Potato is one of the major crops of Nepal and postharvest loss is one of the major problems in the potato value chain system. Therefore, this study was conducted with the objective of assessing post-harvest losses of potato under farmers’ storage conditions. Potato tubers of six potato genotypes (three released varieties viz. 'Jankdev', 'Khumal Upahar' and 'Khumal Vikash' and three pipeline genotypes viz. 'CIP 393073.179', 'CIP 395112.32' and 'Techno 304351.109') were evaluated in randomized complete block design with three replications under four different farmers’ storage conditions at Panauti -8, Kavrepalanchok district of Nepal from May to August 2019. The tubers were cured after harvesting for two weeks in a shade, thereafter they were stored for 80 days. Data were recorded on 20, 40, 60, and 80 days of storage. The results showed that at 80 days of storage, the lowest weight loss (5.51%) was found in Techno 304151.109 followed by CIP 393073.179 (6.68%). Potato tuber moth infestation was minimum in CIP 393073.179 (1.15) followed by Techno 304151.109 (1.25). The days to sprouting was the highest in CIP 393073.179 (69.25) followed by Techno 304151.109 (68.75). No shrinkage was observed in CIP 393073.179 and Techno 304151.109 till 60 days of storage. Loss due to rotting was not observed in these genotypes. Therefore potato genotypes CIP 393073.179 and Techno 304351.109 were promising for their storability in farm conditions; which can be recommended for commercial production in the mid-hill environment of Nepal. KEYWORDS Potato, potato tuber moth, weight loss, shrinkage, sprouting, storability. 1. INTRODUCTION Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is emerging cash generating crop in Nepal. A recent increase in its use in several Nepalese recipes has made it a versatile vegetable crop throughout the country, while it is a staple food for residents of high hills and mountains. In Nepal, the area under potato was reported 195,173 ha and total production 2,881,829 tons with average productivity of 14.7 t/ ha which is lower than the neighboring countries (MoALD, 2019). In Bangladesh, China, India, Netherland and USA, potato yields were 20.4, 18.8, 22.6, 36.6 and 49.8 mt/ha respectively in the year 2018 (FAOSTAT, 2020). It occupies the fifth position in area coverage, second in total production, and first in productivity among the food crops grown in Nepal. Out of the total area under potato, province 1, province 2, Bagmati, Gandaki, Province 5, Karnali and Sudur Paschim occupied 32.4%, 13.0% 21.7%, 8.1%, 11.0%, 6.0% and 7.7%, respectively (MoALD, 2019). The total production of potato could not be utilized due to losses during handling and storage at farm level. Post-harvest loss of perishable commodities including potato is one of the major value chain problems in many countries including Nepal. A large % of post-harvest loss of perishable commodities is estimated in SAARC countries like Sri Lanka (30-60 %), Maldives (30-40%), and Nepal (20- 30%, sometimes up to 50%) (Karki, 2002 Rasheed and Shareef, 2002; Wijeratnam, 2002). Post-harvest potato loss was estimated at 24% in India, 20% in Bangladesh, and 25%t in Nepal (Karki, 2002; Prasad et al., 1989; Satter et al., 2002). It was observed that about 6% loss was during post-harvest handling and marketing in Chattisgarh India (Raghuvanshi et al., 2018). About 40% of this loss was estimated in potato (Khairgoli, 1998). Significant post-harvest loss in potato was identified as one of the major causes of low total yield in potato (NPRP, 2015). In this context, farmers need to use technologies to reduce post-harvest losses. Disciplines of NARC such as National Potato Research Programme and Entomology Division have developed some technologies for reducing post-harvest losses; however, their promotion to farming communities is inadequate (Gautam et al., 2016; Giri et al., 2016). The main causes of post-harvest losses were sprouting during room storage, the infestation of potato tuber moth (PTM), weight loss due to several causes and limited knowledge and awareness of post-harvest technologies in the farming communities (NPRP, 2018). One of the major biotic factors such as potato tuber moth alone can cause 100% infestation in untreated potato in local unrefrigerated stores (CIP, 1988; Joshi, 1989; Aryal and Jung, 2015). The potato growers of the pockets of the super zone of potato such as Panauti, Nala, Panchkhal, and Kusadevi areas of Kavre Quick Response Code Access this article online Website: www.sfna.org.my DOI: 10.26480/sfna.01.2021.51.56