Which Purple Sweet Potato Variety Is Best? A Comparison of Jizishu No. 1 and Xuzishu No. 8
We have all seen and eaten purple sweet potatoes, and purple sweet potato growing techniques are relatively simple. But did you know that purple sweet potatoes also come in many varieties? Do you know what purple sweet potato varieties there are? Do you recognize the following purple sweet potato varieties?
1. Jizishu No. 1
This purple sweet potato was bred by the Shandong Academy of Agricultural Sciences and passed Shandong provincial approval in 2012. This purple sweet potato variety has a downward-bulging spindle-shaped root, uniform tuber formation, and black-purple skin. The flesh is uniformly black-purple. It is currently the purple sweet potato variety with the highest anthocyanin content among similar domestic varieties, with an average content of 80-126mg/100g fresh tuber; its dry matter and starch content are also very high. In the northern special-use sweet potato regional trials and the Yangtze River Basin special-use sweet potato regional trials, Jizishu No. 1 ranked first in average yield of both dry matter and starch; Jizishu No. 1 has high yield, with spring sweet potatoes reaching over 2500kg per mu; it is highly resistant to sweet potato black rot and has good storage tolerance; it has good processing quality and a unique flavor, and is currently the preferred variety for enterprises extracting pigment and processing sweet potato puree and whole flour.
2. Xuzishu No. 8
Xuzishu No. 8 was selected and bred in the Xuhuai region. This variety has good sprouting ability and relatively many branches, around 14. Mature leaves are green, leaf veins are green, the top leaves are yellow-green with purple edges, and it has purple skin and deep purple flesh; its planting area is relatively limited. It can be planted from central Inner Mongolia in the north to Hainan in the south, and to central Xinjiang in the west; its starch content is 18%, soluble sugar content is 3-4%, it has good tuber-setting habits and a high marketable tuber rate. It has good tuber-setting habits and a high marketable tuber rate. Fresh tubers are harvested 80-90 days after planting.
Do you recognize both of these purple sweet potato varieties? If not, you should be able to tell these four varieties apart now!
