Effect of Fertilization Level on the Yield, Carotenoids, and Phenolic Content of Orange- and Purple-Fleshed Sweet Potato

Abstract

Maintaining a diverse diet is essential for the preservation of one’s health and may contribute to the fight against significant civilization diseases such as obesity or diabetes. Sweet potato can be fitted into a diverse diet and serve as a functional food with its antioxidant content. Therefore, it is important to know how the production technology alters the content and composition of these antioxidant compounds. The objective of this study was to collect information on how the increased potassium dominant fertilizer levels and also the additional high-dose fertigation can affect the phytonutrient contents and yields in an orange- and a purple-fleshed sweet potato cultivar. Field experiments were conducted in the Hungarian county of Heves in two consecutive growing seasons in 2021–2022. Different doses of potassium-predominant fertilizer were applied to an orange flesh (Beauregard) and a purple flesh (Stokes Purple) varieties of sweet potatoes. Different application techniques were used in the form of base and top dressing at different rates. The effect on yield and polyphenol content of the different fertilizer rates was investigated. Analytical studies were carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In the case of the Beauregard variety, in addition to identifying the carotenoids, we also performed their quantitative determination. We found that 87% of the carotenoid content was ß-carotene. The total anthocyanin content was investigated for the purple variety—Stokes Purple, for which a new extraction method was developed. In our study, the split dosages, when the pre-planting fertilizer was supplemented with additional liquid fertilization, resulted in 36 and 30.5% higher yields in the Beauregard in Experiment I and Experiment II, respectively, compared to the untreated control plots over the two years. The additional liquid fertilizer increased the yield to a lesser extent when compared to treatments received only pre-planting fertilizer. As for Experiment III, the split dosages resulted in 34.4% higher yields in the Stokes Purple compared to the control plots. However, the additional liquid fertilizer was not effective at all when the plants received a double dose of pre-planting fertilizer in the case of Stokes Purple. Total carotenoid (Experiment I–II) was higher and anthocyanin yield per plant (Experiment III) was significantly higher in the split-dosage treatment than in the untreated control plots.