The eyes are on the sweet potato

Over the years sweet potato growers have inadvertently become Frankensteins, producing crops that have declined in quality, flesh colour, shape and yield by perpetuation of virus infected root stock.

Eric Coleman, from Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI&F) led the 10 year research that has led to plants free from the known virus. Simply, infected plant material is subjected to extreme heat, to destroy the virus, then cloned from tissue culture and the plant re-tested for the virus.

This fresh propagation material has been made available to nearly 90% of industry growers and consumers should already be able to buy better looking, smoother skinned sweet potato.

The sweet potato industry is worth an incredible $40 million to Australia and some 1,200 hectares of sweet potatoes are grown from the Cudgen district in Northern NSW through to Mareeba in North Queensland.

The sweet potato is functional, delicious and a good alternative to the ordinary potato because of its low glycemic index.Â It contains beta carotene and a good range of vitamins and minerals including vitamin C, calcium and potassium.

Further research into the red and white varieties of sweet potato are now underway. Eric believes that the dryer flesh of the white and red skinned varieties may produce an even lower glycemic index and will broaden the choice of flavours and textures available for consumers.

The research is funded by growers through Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL) and the Australian Sweet Potato Growers Association (ASPG) manage the current research projects.

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