SUGAR POTENTIAL OF DIFFERENT JERUSALEM-ARTICHOKE CULTIVARS ACCORDING TO HARVEST

Crop growth and development and yield of Jerusalem artichoke were stud ied in field crops harvested periodically during 2 years. Investigatio ns were carried out on two topics: (i) cultivation of different Jerusa lem artichoke cultivars, (ii) optimization of analytical procedures fo r sugars determination in order to select cultivar and harvest period for optimization of sugar production. Agronomic investigations have sh own this crop to have a significant advantage over other crops with re spect to biomass yield, which can reach 100-130 t/ha in November for t he best cultivars. Advanced analytical procedures, such as HPLC, Mere used to analyse the hydrolytic breakdown of inulin during the vegetati on period of Jerusalem artichoke tubers. The depolymerization of the p olyfructosans resulted in juices with different polymer content accord ing to rite harvest date. That led to a decrease of the fructose/gluco se ratio (FIG) of the total sugars from II to 3 during the harvest per iod. Tuber utilization for sugar or alcohol production should take int o account this phenomenon. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.