Screening and Evaluation of Different Purple Sweet Potato Varieties Specially Used for Processing

Objective] This study almed to screen high-quality and high-yield purpIe sweet potato varieties special y used for processing which were suitabIe for pIanting in Liancheng County. [Method] By using a randomized bIock design, with ‘Longyan 7-3’ as a controI, five purpIe sweet potato varieties were introduced in the autumn of 2012 for comparaton test to evaluate agronomic tralts, economic characters, nu-tritional quality, and processing quantity of dried sweet potato products and fried chips. [Result] ‘Weixiang No.1’ exhibited the highest yield of 41.9 t/hm2, which was improved by 25.8% compared with ‘Longyan 7-3’; fresh tuber yield of ‘Jishu No. 18’ reached 31.6 t/hm2, which was simiIar to that of ‘Longyan 7-3’; dried sweet potato products of ‘Jishu No.18’ and ‘Weixiang No.1’ not onIy had simiIar process stabiIity, taste and coIor to ‘Longyan 7-3’, but also exhibited exceI ent morphoIogy, coIor, transparency, taste and texture, which indicated that these two purpIe sweet potato varieties were suitabIe for processing dried sweet potato products; fried sweet potato chips of ‘Jishu No.18’ and ‘Weixiang No.1’ had moderate oiI content, high expansion degree and simiIar quality to ‘Longyan 7-3’, which indicated that these two purpIe sweet potato varieties were suitabIe for processing fried sweet potato chips; ‘Fushu No.9’, ‘Quanzi No.1’ and ‘Ninzi No.1’ exhibited beautifuI shape, high nutritional quality and good eating quality, which were suitabIe for fresh eating or processing sweet potato powder. [Conclusion] This study provided a scientific ba-sis for Iarge-scale popuIarization and appIication of new purpIe sweet potato vari-eties special y used for processing.