Abstract
YAMS (Dioscorea spp.) are major food crops in many tropical countries. Global production of the edible tubers is approximately 20 million tons/year, the most important producer area being West Africa, where they often contribute up to half the total calorific intake of the population1. The tubers are frequently stored for periods of several months and, although they are generally said to ‘store well’, it has been shown2–4 that appreciable losses in weight, of the order of 10 per cent after 3 months, and 25 per cent or more after 6 months, occur during the storage even of sound tubers. A number of storage rots are known5, and attack by these organisms can further enhance storage losses. It has been estimated1 that around a million tons of yams are lost, annually, in storage.
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COURSEY, D., FELLOWS, L. & COULSON, C. Respiration in Yam Tuber Tissue. Nature 210, 1292–1293 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1038/2101292a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2101292a0
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