Synergistic Effect of Chlorine Dioxide and Temperature-based Curing Method on Storage Stability of Sweet Potato

Curing to promote wound healing is very important for improving the storage stability of sweet potatoes. In general, sweet potatoes are recommended to cure for 4 days or more at high temperature (32-34 °C) and high relative humidity (85-95%). Previous work has shown the possibility of promoting wound healing without high temperature by applying ClO2 gas (100 ppm x 2 h) to the curing process. However, high concentrations of ClO2 gas treatment resulted in weight loss of sweet potatoes, requiring a lower concentration of ClO2 gas treatment. In this study, it was investigated that whether ClO2 gas treatment (10-40 ppm, 10 m) could be used in parallel with the existing temperature-based curing method (TCm; 32-34 °C, 95%RH). Furthermore, it has been examined whether ClO2 gas treatment may be helpful to reduce the curing period.