Damage to potatoes during transportation

Potato is a staple food and the most popular crop in agricultural production. Ukraine has favorable soil and climatic conditions for growing this crop, but the efficiency of its production remains low compared to the leading producers in Europe and the world. The efficiency of the industry depends on many factors, including the preservation of the harvested crop. Potatoes in storage must be free from mechanical damage that could lead to the development of fungal and bacterial pathogens in the tubers. Damage to the tubers causes significant economic losses for producers of this product, as it loses its marketable appearance and deteriorates quickly. Another problem that causes losses to potato growers is the appearance of black spot. It has been found that the development of black spot depends not only on the amount of mechanical impact, but also on the physical and biochemical characteristics of the potato tubers. Reducing mechanical damage to the tubers is the best way to avoid black spot formation. During harvesting, potato tubers interact with the working bodies of the agricultural machines and are damaged. In particular, one of the causes of mechanical damage is the impact of the tubers during loading into vehicles, transport and unloading. Finding ways to improve the process of transporting potato tubers is an urgent task. The article presents the results of experimental studies aimed at identifying the main types of mechanical damage caused by impact loads during the loading of potatoes into the body of a vehicle, their subsequent transport and unloading. It was found that the most frequently observed type of potato damage is peeling of the skin on the tubers – in 9.7% of cases. In order to reduce the mechanical damage of potato tubers during unloading from agricultural machines, it is proposed to equip the dumpers with additional shock-absorbing equipment. The modernized design of the body for the transport of potato tubers includes adjustable movable vertical partitions and a sliding rear board. The modernization of the body makes it possible to reduce the rate of spillage of potato tubers from the body due to the gradual and independent opening of the partitions.