MOSCOW, Idaho — A little smoke during cooking may make for a tasty potato dish, but wildfire smoke could make some Idaho potatoes less marketable, according to preliminary data from a joint University of Idaho-Boise State University study of how smoke exposure affects potato plants.
The two-year study seeks to understand how prolonged exposure to wildfire smoke affects potato yields, crop quality and chemical composition. University of Idaho Plant Sciences Professor Mike Thornton and Boise State University Chemistry Department Chair Owen McDougal are the project leaders.
The research team will continue work on its study during the upcoming growing season, following experiments conducted in the summer of 2022.
In a project that involved pumping imitated wildfire smoke onto potato plots covered by plastic, the researchers found that results differed based on variety: Heavy wildfire smoke was linked to smaller Clearwater Russets and caused more unusable and misshapen Russet Burbanks.
"As we look at these varieties, if we see some that are less responsive to smoke, growers and processors can start looking at using those long term," Thornton said.
According to a University of Idaho news release, the preliminary data suggests growers who raise Russet Burbanks stand to suffer a greater economic hit related to smoke than growers who raise Clearwater Russets.
In Clearwater Russet, smoke exposure reduced the yield of potatoes greater than 6 ounces by 12%, with no change in the percentage of misshapen potatoes, which can be more difficult to sell.
Smoke exposure did not shrink the size profile of Russet Burbank crops, but there was a 3% increase in potatoes weighing more than 10 ounces being misshapen.
Smoke levels in the experiment were far greater than levels that occur in the general environment, even during bad wildfire seasons, Thornton said. Plastic covers increased humidity by up to 20%, enough to interfere with evaporative cooling of potato-plant leaves. The covers also increased temperature, likely stunting the potato crops.
That experiment took place from July 11 to Aug. 18 at the UI Parma Research and Extension Center.
The team plans to repeat the experiment this summer. Thornton said he plans to use shade covers to keep the temperature down, and use fans to circulate air and control humidity.
McDougal's lab analyzed the potatoes as well as fries processed from the experimental potatoes at the U of I Food Technology Center in Caldwell.
The chemical analysis found no differences in asparagine between smoke-exposed and untreated potatoes. Asparagine is an amino acid crucial in the production of acrylamide, a substance that, according to the Food and Drug Administration, forms in fried foods through a naturally occurring chemical reaction between sugars and asparagine. Acrylamide has, in high doses, been shown to cause cancer in small animals, according to the FDA.
McDougal also will evaluate how storage of smoke exposure may affect potato reducing sugars, which contribute to darker and less desirable french-fry color, according to the U of I.
"We're also looking at storage and whether smoke exposure negatively impacts potatoes' storage resilience," McDougal said.
McCain Foods provided assistance and guidance with the project and assembled its research team. The project was funded with a $125,000 two-year grant from the federal Specialty Crop Block Grant Program.
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