Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
18
Nutritional Characteristics
of Potatoes
Duroy Navarre, 1,3 * Aymeric Goyer, 2 Raja Payyavula 3
and Hanjo Hellmann 4
1 USDA-ARS, Prosser, USA; 2 Oregon State University, Hermiston
Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Hermiston, USA; 3 IAREC,
Washington State University, Prosser, USA; 4 Plant Stress Physiology,
Washington State University, Pullman, USA
Potatoes are the most consumed vegetable in
much of the developed world, and their con-
sumption is growing rapidly in the developing
world. Over half of the global production now
occurs in developing countries, where since the
1960s, growth in potato production has ex-
ceeded that of all other crops (International Po-
tato Center, 2009). Staple foods like potatoes
have a unique nutritional importance relative to
foods consumed sparingly. Consequently, staple
foods should be primary targets for nutritional
enhancement because of their anticipated
greater return on investment in terms of being
able to positively impact a larger percentage of
the global population. Because of their high con-
sumption, potatoes are good vehicles to deliver
meaningful amounts of dietary phytonutrients.
Providing food security for the growing glo-
bal population will be challenging, with the
United Nations projecting an increase in the
global population from 6.8  billion currently to
9.2  billion in 2050. The Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) projects global agricultural
production will need to increase by 70% by
2050 (FAO, 2009). Contributing to this chal-
lenge is changing dietary patterns, in which
an  increasing global middle class consumes a
more resource-intensive, Western-style diet; for
example, greater meat consumption. Moving to
this moderate diet will require 2.4  kg grain
equivalent per person per day, about threefold
higher than current levels (Poudel et al ., 2012).
Challenges could also result from acreage taken
out of food production and used for biofuels.
In this context, it is an important point that po-
tatoes yield more calories per land unit than any
other major crop, including grains, rice, and
soybean (Nunn and Qian, 2011). This claim for
potato is often based on yielding 9.2 million cal-
ories per acre, but yield per acre depends on cul-
tivar, environment, and management, and it can
be much higher than the yields typically used to
calculate calories per acre. For example, in
Washington State, the typical family-owned
farm growing russet potatoes produces 30   t
acre - 1 , or about 26  million calories acre - 1 . More-
over, 40  t acre - 1 ( 35  million calories acre -1 ) yields
are not uncommon. While these yields will not
be achievable everywhere, it does suggest a po-
tential for increased yields elsewhere if crop
management is optimized. Also contributing to
their role in food security is that potatoes can
grow in a wide range of climates and soils, and
produce tubers in as quickly as 60 days that
have generous amounts of phytonutrients, as
described later in this chapter.
 
 
 
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