Effects of temperature on the physicochemical properties of starches extracted from microtubers grown from different potato cultivars

Twelve potato cultivars were grown as microtubers in constant environment chambers at two temperatures in total darkness for 28 days. For starch extracted from microtubers grown at 12 or 22 °C, the amylose content ranged from 25.0 to 29.0% (average 27.3 ± 1.4%) or 29.5 to 32.7% (average 30.9 ± 1.4%), the amylose/amylopectin ratio from 1:2.5 to 1:3.0 (average 1:2.7) or 1:2.1 to 1:2.4 (average 1:2.2) and the phosphorus content from 0.41 to 0.93 g kg^-1 (average 0.72 g kg^-1) or 0.38 to 1.67 g kg^-1 (average 0.97 g kg^-1) respectively. Two major fractions (F1 and F2) were obtained for isoamylase-debranched starch (amylopectin), with the chain length (CL) averaging 56 ± 3 or 55 ± 1 for F1 and 20 ± 1 or 21 ± 1 for F2 from 12 or 22 °C growth temperature respectively. Peak gelatinisation temperature (Tp) and enthalpy ((delta)H) were influenced strongly by growth temperature, with Tp ranging from 60.8 to 64.5 °C (average 62.1 ± 1.0 °C) or 66.9 to 69.6 °C (average 68.2 ± 0.9 °C) and (delta)H from 13.3 to 16.9 J g^-1 (average 14.8 ± 1.0 J g^-1) or 11.3 to 19.5 J g^-1 (average 16.3 ± 2.4 J g^-1) from 12 or 22 °C growth temperature respectively. The collective data generated at 12 °C were generally more comparable to data published elsewhere (but discussed in the text) for the same potato cultivars grown in field plots (Perthshire). However, there were cultivar specific responses to field or constant environment chambers which make direct comparisons between starches produced from the two systems subject to some variation.