New Sweetpotato Varieties Well Adapted to Cool Climate

Some sweetpotato varieties produce storage roots with purple flesh. These purple sweetpotato varieties don't just look good, they might actually be good for the health. Purple sweetpotatoes contain high levels of anthocyanins, red-purple pigments found naturally in grapes, red cabbage and eggplant peel much studied for their health benefits, including their roles as antioxidants.

Ted Carey and colleagues at the Kansas State University are developing varieties that grow well in the cold-winter region. "I was interested in purple-fleshed sweetpotato because there were not yet any commercial varieties adapted for cultivation in the mainland USA, and there is a fairly significant demand for this type of sweetpotato, almost all of which is imported," Carey said.

Carey sourced the seeds from the genebank maintained by the Peru-based International Potato Center (CIP). Initial research on some of Carey's purple sweetpotatoes has provided encouraging results, showing that two anthocyanine derivatives they contain, cyanidin and peonidin, inhibit human colon cancer cell's growth. Carey and his team will conduct further multilocational testing this coming season. As of the moment, the scientists have their eyes on a top variety that may not be very sweet but could prove to be useful for processing.

Read the original story at http://www.cipotato.org/pressroom/press_releases_detail.asp?cod=74