The Impact of Retail Light Source on Greening of Russet Burbank Potato Tubers

Abstract

The use of accent lighting in retail stores has focused illumination on potatoes for greater consumer awareness. Unfortunately, this directed light on displayed potatoes may impact the rate or level of tuber greening. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of various retail accent light sources on greening and quality of illuminated tubers. Two separate experiments exposed ‘Russet Burbank’ potato tubers to fiber optic, ceramic metal halide, fluorescent, fluorescent with filter lighting (experiment 1) and fiber optic, halogen, and fluorescent lighting (experiment 2). In each experiment, tubers were exposed to a consistent light intensity (1390 lx in experiment 1 and 1300 lx in experiment 2) in addition to a dark control. Tubers were illuminated for 22 h per day at an ambient room temperature of 22 C. Six randomly selected tubers were evaluated for level of greening, chlorophyll concentration, and weight loss at day 0, 2, 4, 7, and 9. Total glycoalkaloid content was analyzed at days 0 and 9. In experiment 1, the fiber optic and fluorescent illuminated tubers showed significantly lower chlorophyll content compared to the ceramic metal halide light source. There was no significant difference in chlorophyll level or greening rating between the fluorescent light source and fluorescent with filter. In experiment 2, the fiber optic illuminated tubers had lower chlorophyll content and less visual greening compared to the halogen illuminated tubers. Total glycoalkaloids were not significantly impacted by light source. The use of fiber optic lighting or a combination of fiber optic lighting with standard fluorescent lighting would retard the progression of greening in the retail store yet potentially highlight the commodity for consumer eye-appeal.