Euangelion Mareeya L. Rico (March 2011)
Philippine Science High School Western Visayas Campus – Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PSHS WVC), Brgy. Bito-on, Jaro, Iloilo City 5000, Philippines
ABSTRACT
Sweet potato (Ipomea batatas) is a root crop highly produced in many countries where it serves as food and as a material for industrial sources. Postharvest storage of sweet potatoes was performed in several studies to determine the effect of different temperatures to the physical and sensory properties and nutritional components of sweet potato. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of temperature treatments to the skin color, weight and sweetness to sweet potatoes of variety PSB SP 17. Sweet potatoes were divided into three treatments namely; freezing temperature, normal temperature and room temperature, stored in seven days. The skin color and weight were determined before and after treatment. A panel evaluated the sweetness of the sweet potatoes after the treatment. Heavy weight loss was observed in all the treatments. Treatment B, the normal temperature treatment was rated sweetest in the evaluation. It is concluded that sweet potatoes treated in low temperatures are generally less sweet than those stored in higher temperatures. The study conducted focused on the product quality of sweet potatoes to provide more information for the producers.