Sonification of Potato Tubers as an Innovative Method for Improving the Quality of Potato Chips

Modern agriculture aims to reduce the use of pesticides in favor of methods that provide high-quality raw materials for the agri-food industry. The aim of the study was to deter-mine the effects of using ultrasound in an aquatic environment on potato tubers as a pre-planting treatment. A three-year field experiment was conducted in central-eastern Poland using the randomized sub-block method in a dependent design, split-plot, in three replications. The primary factor was the cultivation technology: (a) with ultrasonic treat-ment of seed potatoes before planting and (b) traditional, without ultrasonic treatment. The second-order factor was eight edible potato varieties of different earliness classes. Af-ter harvest, the effect of this method on the quality parameters of the raw material and po-tato chips obtained from it was assessed. Sonification helped improve the processing quality of potato tubers. Chips obtained from tubers subjected to sonication were charac-terized by a lighter color, better visual and organoleptic evaluation, as well as less discol-oration of this product and fewer wet spots, compared to chips obtained from tubers grown traditionally. The results of the study indicate that ultrasonic treatment of seed po-tatoes can be an effective method of improving the quality of raw material for processing. Further research should focus on the optimization of sonication parameters and the eco-nomic analysis of its implementation on an industrial scale. It is also necessary to extend the research to other potato varieties and different environmental conditions, which will allow for a more comprehensive determination of the potential of this method in sustain-able agriculture.