Friday, January 18, 2013

The wondrous sweet potato

About one year ago I wrote about Dr. Julian C. Miller who taught the sweet potato to bloom and thus the LSU horticultural department developed not only better sweet potato varieties but improved other fruits and vegetables as well.

I heard from son Mark in North Carolina that such a topic was odd to be in my blog.  So as a birthday present to him (his birthday is Saturday) I am going to talk about sweet potatoes once more.

Louisiana continues to lead the world in sweet potato research, continuing to develop improved  varieties to meet better the expanded uses of the potato, including french fried potato strips.  Research funds are hard to get now so the LSU Agriculture department welcomes $200,000 it has received from others paying licensing fees.

The leading potato is the Beauregard, developed by LSU, and along with the Evangeline is most commonly planted.  The quest continues to develop an even better potato than the Beauregard.   The Orleans could be the next Beauregard as it is just as tasty and has a more attractive shape.

We can count on LSU Ag to continue to improve varieties of fruits and vegetables that reach our markets and our tables.  

No comments:

Post a Comment