Potato Research

The European Association for Potato Research (EAPR) publishes a journal, Potato Research, which includes original scientific contributions on both fundamental and applied research on potatoes, review articles and topics of general interest. It also contains Association news and reports on section meetings (including abstracts of papers presented).
A volume of the Journal (usually approximately 450 pages), consists of four issues, published in the same year. Submission of manuscripts is exclusively online via a web-based electronic submission and tracking system available at https://www.editorialmanager.com/potr

EAPR Members have online access to Potato Research (use the EAPR member login page)
A list of addresses of editors of ‘Potato Research’
Contents of ‘Potato Research’ can be found at Springerlink
Instructions for authors
Any comments regarding the publication and distribution of Potato Research should be addressed to EAPR

Springer Link

https://link.springer.com/journal/11540

Latest Issues

Advanced Statistical Modeling of Agricultural Potato Data Using a Novel Compound Distribution
23rd May, 2025
Potatoes, known for their nutritional value and versatility, have been a staple food in many cultures for centuries. Their adaptability to various climates and culinary uses makes them an essential crop worldwide. Inspired by this versatility, this study explores a novel distribution model that mirrors the multifaceted nature of the potato. The research was motivated by the appeal and adaptability of a distribution family, which utilizes a trigonometric generator along with the proven effectiveness of the Rayleigh distribution in various real-world datasets. This compound distribution combines the Rayleigh distribution with the Sine Type II Topp-Leone family, resulting in the Sine Type II Topp-Leone family of distributions. Potatoes have not only provided sustenance but also inspired numerous studies on agricultural innovation and food security, underscoring their global importance. Additionally, they have been a focal point in discussions about sustainable farming practices and crop diversity. A simulation study was carried out to evaluate the reliability of the suggested model. As expected, with larger sample sizes, the estimators converged towards the true parameter values, and both the root mean square error and bias decreased accordingly. Additionally, an exploratory data analysis was performed on the dataset to investigate its characteristics, revealing varying degrees of skewness. The suggested model was applied to these datasets and compared with existing distributions. The results showed that the suggested model outperforms its competitors, demonstrating its superior flexibility.
See full article
GC–MS Profiling and Computational Analysis of Potato Peel Extracts Reveal Promising Avenue of Novel Therapeutic Potential: An Embarking Step towards Drugs Design
22nd May, 2025
Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) peels are a significant source of bioactive compounds that offer various health benefits. In this study, the primary and secondary metabolites present in potato peels, including phenolic compounds, flavonoids, sugars, amino acids and proline, were estimated using various methods, with confirmation through UV–Visible spectrophotometry. The highest concentrations of phenolic compounds, flavonoids and amino acids were found in the aqueous extract, while the lowest levels of these metabolites were detected in the n-hexane extract. The antibacterial activity of the potato peel extracts was also evaluated against human pathogenic bacteria. The n-hexane extract exhibited the largest zone of inhibition against Salmonella typhi, compared to the aqueous extract. GC–MS analysis of the n-hexane extract was conducted to identify metabolites responsible for the observed antibacterial activity. The analysis revealed the presence of 84.48% phthalate derivatives in the n-hexane extract, which demonstrated strong antibacterial potential against the typhoid-causing bacteria. These phthalate derivatives were identified as potent compounds with activity against Salmonella typhi. This finding suggests that phthalate derivatives could serve as a promising basis for the development of novel therapeutic agents for typhoid, warranting further experimental validation and drug design.
See full article
Molecular and Pathogenic Characterization of Fusarium Species Associated with Dry Rot in Stored Potatoes in Kyrgyzstan
22nd May, 2025
Fusarium dry rot is a significant fungal disease impacting postharvest potato tubers worldwide, leading to substantial losses in tuber quality, nutritional value, and seed viability. In Kyrgyzstan, where potato is a staple crop, the disease poses a critical threat to food security. This study aimed to identify and characterize Fusarium species associated with dry rot in stored potatoes from the Osh region, a major potato production area facing severe postharvest challenges. Surveys were conducted in 34 potato storage facilities across four districts, and symptomatic tubers were collected. Fifty-four Fusarium isolates were obtained and subjected to a comprehensive characterization approach, including morphological assessments, molecular analyses using iPBS markers based on retrotransposons, DNA sequencing of the translation elongation factor-1 alpha (TEF1) locus, and pathogenicity tests on the ‘Soraya’ potato cultivar. Fusarium sambucinum was the most prevalent species (50%), followed by F. oxysporum (~ 17%), F. flocciferum (~ 11%), F. equiseti (~ 9%), F. proliferatum (~ 5%), F. acuminatum (~ 4%), F. solani (~ 2%), and F. venenatum (~ 2%). Morphological identifications were supported by iPBS2395 primer analysis, which revealed distinct DNA fingerprinting patterns among the isolates. Phylogenetic analysis of TEF1 gene sequences further confirmed species identifications, demonstrating strong congruence between morphological, iPBS, and TEF1 data. Pathogenicity tests revealed varying levels of virulence across species, with F. sambucinum exhibiting the highest overall virulence and mean lesion sizes comparable to those of F. flocciferum, while F. equiseti and F. solani showed significantly lower virulence. Except for F. sambucinum, all other Fusarium species represent first reports in Kyrgyzstan, with F. flocciferum being reported globally for the first time as a causal agent of potato dry rot. This study provides a comprehensive assessment of the Fusarium species involved in dry rot in the Osh region, highlighting the dominance of F. sambucinum and the need for enhanced management strategies to mitigate postharvest losses and strengthen food security in Kyrgyzstan.
See full article
Optimization of Deep Convolution for Potato Disease Detection
21st May, 2025
This study investigates the use of deep learning models, Visual Geometry Group 16 (VGG16), AlexNet and a custom convolutional neural network (CNN), for classifying potato leaf images into categories of early blight, late blight and healthy leaves. The dataset, comprising 3293 images, combining locally sourced images from Anand Agricultural University (AAU), Gujarat, India, and images from the PlantVillage (PV) repository. Various configurations were tested, including batch size of 32 and 64 and training epochs of 30 and 60. Results indicate that the custom CNN achieved the highest performance, with an accuracy of 98.8% and minimum loss of 0.055, surpassing both VGG16 and AlexNet. Notably, the custom CNN required only 128,387 trainable parameters, significantly fewer than VGG16 (138 million) and AlexNet (58 million), highlighting its efficiency. This efficiency demonstrates the custom CNN’s optimized architecture, enabling high classification performance with lower computational demands.
See full article
Inter- and Intra-specific Competition of Potato with Four Common Weed Species and Their Impact on Tuber Yield
20th May, 2025
Weeds compete with crops including potato and cause a huge yield and quality reduction. This competition varies according to weed type and their infestation level. The objective of this study was to explore the inter- and intra-specific competition of potato and four of its major weeds, i.e., Amaranthus retroflexus, Chenopodium album, Salsola kali, and Solanum nigrum, under varying densities. The weeds and potato plants were grown in pots by maintaining weed densities of 0, 2, 4, and 6 weed plants, together with the potato plant densities of 0, 1, 2, and 3, with all possible interactions and a control (only weed or potato plants). The results showed that with an increase in the density of A. retroflexus, potato height and yield started decreasing, and there was a 9–49% tuber yield reduction due to A. retroflexus interference depending on its density. The A. retroflexus height and biomass were positively influenced under low inter-specific competition with potato compared to when grown alone (intra-specific competition). The maximum C. album height and biomass were observed under low intra-specific (only 2 C. album plants) and inter-specific competition conditions (2 C. album × 1 potato). There was a 9–48% reduction in tuber yield when potato was exposed to competition from different densities of C. album. The height and biomass of S. kali were significantly higher under low inter- and intra-specific competition. Tuber yield loss due to S. kali interference was 32–63% under inter-specific competition conditions. The highest height and dry weight of S. nigrum were recorded under low competition/densities (2 S. nigrum × 1 potato). Yield loss under inter-specific competition of potato with S. nigrum was 22–43% depending on the densities of S. nigrum. In general, the weeds performed well under low competition and caused a decrease in tuber yield, showing their ability to compete at inter-specific competition conditions. The results of this study could be helpful in providing insights into the competition of potato with their common weeds, enabling a focus on the management of the most competitive ones.
See full article

Latest Issues

Advanced Statistical Modeling of Agricultural Potato Data Using a Novel Compound Distribution

GC–MS Profiling and Computational Analysis of Potato Peel Extracts Reveal Promising Avenue of Novel Therapeutic Potential: An Embarking Step towards Drugs Design

Molecular and Pathogenic Characterization of Fusarium Species Associated with Dry Rot in Stored Potatoes in Kyrgyzstan

Optimization of Deep Convolution for Potato Disease Detection

Inter- and Intra-specific Competition of Potato with Four Common Weed Species and Their Impact on Tuber Yield

EAPR Sustaining Members