# The Impact of Effective Microorganisms on Flesh Color and Chemical Composition of Raw Potato Tubers
## 3 Results  
### Influence of Cultivation Practices and Varieties on the Color Indices of Tuber Flesh  
The application of fungicides in the cultivation practice technology A, caused significant darkening of the color of the raw tuber flesh, compared to technologies B, C, and D, where the tubers were treated with effective microorganism preparations during the growing season. Three to eight treatments of the preparations of EmFarma PlusTM and Ema5 TM were applied and resulted in a favorable effect on the color of the flesh of raw tubers, compared to the standard group using fungicides. Furthermore, this application turned out to be homogeneous with applications B and C (Table 5, Figures 4 and 5). The highest value of the a* parameter was obtained with the standard technology, without using microbiological preparations, but with fungicides; this value did not differ significantly from technology B with three applications of EMs during the growing season. The remaining technologies, with five or eight times the application of EM, were characterized by a significantly lower value of this feature, which meant a shift of the red color towards green (Table 5). The b* parameter value was the highest in technologies B, C, and D, where EMs were applied, with spraying three, five, and eight times of EMFarmaTM plus Ema5 TM in an aqueous solution during the growing season. The lowest value of this parameter was recorded in standard technology A (Table 5). \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Specification** & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**L***} & **a*** & **b*** \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Cultivation practices **\({}^{\ast\ast}\)**} & A & 75.23b \(\pm\) 1.20 & 3.26a \(\pm\) 0.05 & 40.69b \(\pm\) 0.67 \\  & B & 79.39a \(\pm\) 2.57 & 3.20a \(\pm\) 0.08 & 43.25a \(\pm\) 1.04 \\  & C & 78.63a \(\pm\) 0.68 & 2.54c \(\pm\) 0.06 & 42.88a \(\pm\) 0.49 \\  & D & 80.63a \(\pm\) 1.62 & 2.81b \(\pm\) 0.13 & 43.46a \(\pm\) 1.71 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Cultivars} & \({}^{\prime}\)Bellarosa\({}^{\prime}\) & 79.3a \(\pm\) 1.03 & 2.58b \(\pm\) 0.14 & 41.04b \(\pm\) 0.57 \\  & \({}^{\prime}\)Tajfun\({}^{\prime}\) & 77.6b \(\pm\) 1.86 & 3.32a \(\pm\) 0.10 & 43.90a \(\pm\) 0.51 \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Years} & 2015 & 78.80a \(\pm\) 0.16 & 2.70b \(\pm\) 0.20 & 41.40b \(\pm\) 0.23 \\  & 2016 & 76.40b \(\pm\) 2.10 & 3.02a \(\pm\) 0.13 & 42.45b \(\pm\) 0.85 \\ \cline{1-1}  & 2017 & 80.20b \(\pm\) 1.22 & 3.14a \(\pm\) 0.07 & 43.55a \(\pm\) 1.18 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} Parameter L*--brightness, parameter a*–green to red color, parameter b*—blue to yellow color, ** Cultivation practices: A—3 applications of fungicide, B—3 applications, C—5 applications, and D—8 applications of effective organisms (EmFarmaTM plus Ema5 TM).  
\end{table} 
Table 5: Color parameters of raw tubers of potato in the CIE Lab* system. The Impact of Varieties and Weather Conditions, in the Years of Research Variations on Indicators of Tuber Flesh Color  
Among the studied cultivars, the 'Bellarosa' cultivar, for which the L* component was defined as a change in the tested sample's brightness, was characterized by significantly lighter flesh color. The 'Tajfun' cultivar showed greater color saturation towards red (parameter a*) and a darker shade towards yellow (parameter b*) (Table 5). Both components ranged from \(-120\) to \(120\). The concept of saturation was also defined as the value of the maximum intensity of the color's chromatic component in the light of brightness [5,26]. The greater the value of these features (a*, b*), the greater was the color saturation. The growing season conditions had a significant impact on the L* component of the tuber's flesh color parameter. The highest value of this parameter, i.e., the brightest flesh color, was obtained in 2015 when a significant shortage of precipitation was noted during the most intense accumulation of tuber yield (June-August). In the remaining years, this indicator turned out to be homogeneous in the value of this feature.