Potatoes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Potatoes - Essay ExampleIts Latin name is Solanum genus Tuberosum L. and is a perennial plant i.e. present at all seasons of the year. (Rhodes, 2009). In the genus Solanum, Petota comprises of around 190 wild tuber-bearing species, and argon extensively spread in the Americas, from the South Western USA to Southern Chile and Argentina and from sea level to the highlands of the Andes Mountains (Visser et al., 2009). A universally accepted taxonomy does not exist for cultivated murphyes. The interested part of the potato crop plant is a tuber, the enlarged end of a stolon, or underground stem. Externally tuber appears as tan to purple color while its flesh is normally white or animated yellow, except for some purple Andrean potatoes. The tuber buds off externally that can sprout into new crops. These buds or eyes function like a fruit seeds which give rise to new plants (Rhodes, 2009).Cross breed techniques between common potato varieties and wild potato varieties atomic number 18 used to produce crop plants with lovable traits such as broad spectrum resistances to pests and diseases, tolerances to frost and drought, high yielding and highly nutritious crops in inauspicious biotic and abiotic stimuli, high quality storage characteristics, easy processing etc (Visser et al., 2009). In addition to this, developed countries are also emphasizing on organically prepared and processed potato.The production of diverse and abundant viands to sustain the demand of increasing population is the need of the day. The supply of abundant, cheapest, diverse and safest food becomes an immense gainsay in developing world. In this regard, root and tuber crops can contribute significantly. The annual growth pass judgment of potato production are increasing by 4.5 million tons per year (Visser et al., 2009). It tops the itemisation in non-grain food commodity, while secures third position as an important food crop later wheat and rice (Visser et al., 2009). It has been re ported that in 2007, 325 million