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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Genetic Improvement for Fruits & Vegetables Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #264920

Title: Vitamin B1 content in potato: effect of genotype, tuber enlargement, and storage, and estimation of stability and broad-sense heritability

Author
item GOYER, AYMERIC - Oregon State University
item HANE, DAN - Oregon State University
item Haynes, Kathleen

Submitted to: American Journal of Potato Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/19/2011
Publication Date: 6/7/2011
Citation: Goyer, A., Hane, D.C., Haynes, K.G. 2011. Vitamin B1 content in potato: effect of genotype, tuber enlargement, and storage, and estimation of stability and broad-sense heritability. American Journal of Potato Research. 88:374–385.

Interpretive Summary: Vitamin B1 is an essential nutrient in the human diet. Severe deficiency can result in a nervous system disorder called beriberi. Potatoes contain modest amounts of dietary vitamin B1. However, we do not know if the amount of vitamin B1 varies among potato varieties, nor how the growing environment or storage environment may affect the amount of vitamin B1. In this study, we grew 54 potato varieties in multiple locations and showed that the amount of vitamin B1 varies considerably among potato varieties and growing environments. A slight increase in the concentration of vitamin B1 occurs during storage. Several potato varieties were indentified that contribute more the 10% of the recommended daily allowance of Vitamin B1. These results also suggest that it will be possible to breed for increased vitamin B1 in potatoes. This research will be utilized by potato breeders, growers, and nutritionists interested in potato dietary value.

Technical Abstract: Thiamine pyrophosphate (vitamin B1) is an essential nutrient in the human diet, and is often referred as the energy vitamin. Potato contains modest amounts of thiamine. However, genetic variation of thiamine concentrations in potato has never been investigated. In this study, we determined thiamine concentrations in freshly-harvested unpeeled tubers of 54 potato clones, the majority of them originating from the Pacific Northwest Potato Development Program. Tubers from 39 clones were collected from four different environmental conditions. Thiamine concentrations ranged from 292 to 1317 ng g-1 fresh weight, which gives a good estimate of the genetic variation available in Solanum tuberosum ssp. tuberosum. Thirteen clones/varieties contained >685 ng g-1 fresh weight and four had >800 ng g-1 fresh weight over multiple harvests, indicating that these genotypes would contribute a significant amount of thiamine in the diet (>10% of the Recommended Daily Allowance based on a 175- or 150-g serving, respectively). Broad-sense heritability for thiamine content was calculated as 0.49 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.21–0.72, suggesting that genetic variation accounted for about 50% of the observed variation There were significant clone and clone x environment effects. After accounting for environmental variation, 25clones were unstable across environments. Tubers harvested at a mature stage late in the growing season had higher amounts of thiamine than tubers harvested at a young stage early in the season. Storage at cold temperature did not lead to significant thiamine loss; instead, thiamine concentrations slightly increased during storage in some genotypes. These results suggest that increasing the concentration of thiamine in potato is feasible and potato may one day be a significant source of thiamine in the human diet. This research will encourage potato breeders and geneticists to develop potato varieties with higher nutritional content and enable nutritionists to update nutritional data bases with information specific to potato varieties with respect to thiamine.