Potato Deep Processing Prospects, Processed Products, and No-Till Cultivation Technique with Rice Straw Mulch

Potato tubers are edible and are the fourth most important food crop in the world, after wheat, rice and maize. Potato is also known as earth egg, potato, foreign taro, etc. So what are the prospects for potato deep processing? What products can be processed? What are the no-till cultivation techniques for potato with rice straw mulch?

What are the prospects for potato deep processing?

Potatoes made into potato strips or fried as snacks for sale, or made into semi-finished products for retail in large supermarkets, actually this alone is enough to have broad prospects. Both cheap and delicious, deeply loved by the public. However, the healthification of food is becoming a trend, and it is suggested that potato processing should not only grasp the current frying, but also can do some healthier explorations.

What products can potatoes be processed into?

1. Processing orange-flavored potato strips. Orange-flavored potato strips processed with orange peel, potatoes and other raw materials are golden in color, fragrant and sweet, and crispy and delicious.

2. Making vinegar essence from potatoes. Using potatoes instead of grain to make vinegar essence not only has high yield, but also low cost and good quality.

3. Processing low-fat fried potato chips.

Appendix: No-till cultivation technique for potato with rice straw mulch

No-till potato cultivation is a new cost-saving and efficiency-increasing technique. This new technique does not plow and prepare the land after the previous crop is harvested. When sowing, the field (land) surface is divided into beds, seed potatoes are placed according to the planting specifications, seed fertilizer, insecticide and farmyard manure are applied on the bed surface, seed potatoes are covered with rice straw, wheat straw, etc., and soil is taken from the bed furrows to compact the cover, which can reduce the damage to soil structure caused by plowing and land preparation, reduce input, lower labor intensity, reduce mechanical damage to tubers caused by digging during harvest, and improve the commodity rate. The no-till potato cultivation technique is introduced as follows:

1. Plot selection

Choose low-hot river valley areas below 1500 m altitude with no frost or light frost in winter for off-season planting. The planting plot should have a flat surface, deep plough layer, good water conservancy conditions, high soil fertility, and sandy loam soil.

2. Variety selection

First, choose varieties with good market demand; second, choose varieties with a suitable growth period; third, use virus-free seed potatoes, and do not use commercial seed potatoes; fourth, choose seed potatoes whose dormancy period has passed. After several years of experimental demonstration, varieties such as Shengli No. 2, 5488 and Heqinghong are better.

3. Timely sowing

In low-hot river valley areas, sow in late November and harvest in late March to early April of the following year. The planting specifications are: open beds at 110 cm, bed surface width 80 cm, bed furrow width 30 cm, place 2 rows of sprouted seed potatoes on the bed surface, with potato sprouts facing upward when placing, the interval between the 2 rows of seed potatoes is 30 cm, row spacing 55 cm, plant spacing 25 cm, using 4727 plants per mu.

4. Rice straw mulching

After sowing and fertilizing potatoes, evenly cover with 8—10 cm of rice straw, covering the entire bed surface evenly with the straw perpendicular to the bed surface and straw tips facing straw tips, gently compacting or pressing on a small amount of fine soil, leaving no gaps. After emergence, conduct field inspections again and add some rice straw to prevent the straw from being too thin and letting light through, which would form green tubers and reduce quality.

5. Rational fertilization

Potatoes are sensitive to nitrogen and potassium, and fertilization should mainly be nitrogen and potassium, with appropriate phosphorus fertilizer. On the basis of applying 1500—2000 kg of high-quality farmyard manure per mu, apply 60 kg of compound fertilizer and 30 kg of ordinary calcium per mu as base fertilizer, applied within the row spacing.

6. Water management

Potatoes like fertilizer and tolerate drought but fear waterlogging. Newly covered rice straw absorbs less water and dries easily. In case of dry weather, water appropriately to facilitate emergence. Once the rice straw rots, its water retention increases, and in rainy weather it should be drained in time.

7. Control of diseases, insects and weeds

Full-course rice straw mulching can preserve moisture and inhibit weed growth, so generally no weeding is needed, but control of potato late blight, bacterial wilt, ring rot, cutworm and other diseases and pests must be done well. At the bud stage, spray 800-fold paclobutrazol to control excessive seedling growth and increase yield. Before sowing, mix trichlorfon powder into poisonous soil and apply it to the bed surface or planting furrow to control underground pests, or spray with phoxim diluted in water. At seedling height 15 cm, bud stage and flowering stage, spray with metalaxyl mancozeb diluted in water once each to control late blight.

8. Harvesting method

Harvest when the aboveground stems and leaves normally turn yellow and the tubers are fully mature, and avoid harvesting on rainy days. More than 70% of mulched potato tubers are on the soil surface, and can be picked up by brushing aside the rice straw. A few grow in cracks or pores, and the tubers enter the soil very shallowly, so they are very easy to dig. Staged harvesting is also possible, that is, gently brush aside the rice straw to harvest the grown tubers, then cover the rice straw well again to let small tubers continue growing. This harvesting method can both select the best tuber shape for timely marketing and obtain a high-yield harvest, improving economic benefits.