The effect of storage on the oxalate content of New Zealand grown oca

Abstract

Four lines of oca, No. 38 and 41, Inca Gold and Market were grown in four replicated plots and the soluble oxalate content was determined on the freshly harvested tubers and tubers that had been stored for 6 weeks at 16.4 ± 0.5 °C. The mean dry matter content of freshly harvested tubers was 14.3 ± 0.5 g 100 g-1 fresh weight (FW), and after storage was 14.6 ± 0.5 g 100 g-1 FW. The mean soluble oxalate content of freshly harvested tubers was 162.1 ± 8.8 mg 100 g-1 FW, and, after 6 weeks storage, 173.5 ± 0.9 mg 100 g-1 FW. The different cultivars behaved differently during storage, the soluble oxalate content of Inca Gold tubers fell 7.2% while the soluble oxalate content of the other three cultivars increased (mean 13%). © 2008 Institute of Food Science and Technology.