POTATO AND ONION STORAGE SYSTEMS

An important part of cold storage for potato and onion products is ventilation. In both products, storage includes multiple stages, and taking the right steps at each stage ensures that the products are stored long-lasting and fresh. A quality air circulation is required to ensure that values such as temperature, humidity and CO2 level are appropriate during storage.

Storing potatoes is similar to storing onions, like all root crops, potatoes should be dried before storage after they are removed from the soil. After the drying process, a healing process takes place in order to prevent rotting of the potato injured during harvest or handling and to ensure the formation of a crust on the potato.

After this process, the temperature of the potato is lowered by 0.5°C every day and is prepared for cold storage. In cold stores, seed potatoes are stored at 2-4 degrees, while other potato types are preserved at 4-10 degrees. However, carbon dioxide control is as important as temperature and humidity control in cold storage. The rising carbon dioxide should be brought under control and kept within certain limits.

Before the potatoes are put on the market, they are prepared for marketing by increasing the temperature by 1O C° per day without being taken out of the cold storage. Thus, condensation in the potato is prevented.
The best storage method for potatoes is modern warehouses where all stages of drying, curing, cooling, storage and preparation for the market can be done.

After the onion is harvested, it cannot be put into cold storage immediately. First you need to dry the onion.

After this process, which lasts for a few days, the maturation phase comes. After the ripening process, which is carried out to encourage the skin formation of the onion and to obtain the special color of the skin, the temperature of the ripened onions is reduced by a maximum of 0.5 degrees every day, and they are brought to the cold storage temperature slowly in the warehouse.

Onions are stored in cold stores between 0 degrees and 2 degrees, depending on the type. Onions can be stored in modern cold stores for up to 10 months without wastage. Ventilation is vital in onion warehouses. Onions that will go to the market after storage are not shipped immediately from the warehouse, they are heated to ambient temperature in a controlled manner for a week to prevent condensation on them.