Introduction

A major limitation to potato (Solanum tuberosum) production, is potato tuber cracking which cause agronomic, financial, and post-harvest losses. Although the condition is somewhat common, its multifactorial cause including complicated interactions among physiological, biochemical, environmental, genetic, and agronomic variables makes it still poorly understood.

Objective

With an eye toward guiding breeding programs, precision agriculture, and sustainable crop management practices, this systematic review aims to synthesize and critically appraise the empirical data on the etiologic, mechanistic pathways, and mitigating strategies related with potato tuber cracking.

Methodology

Following PRISMA rules, a thorough search method comprising six main academic databases Web of Science, Scopus, AGRICOLA, PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholars commented by grey literature retrieval and hand reference mining. MeSH-enhanced keywords and Boolean logic guaranteed full coverage. After a tri-phasic screening process, 162 studies in all were found; 34 of them fit strict inclusion criteria.

Results

The study noted that the main causes of tuber cracking range from changing soil moisture, high temperature change, and nutritional imbalances especially shortages in calcium, potassium, and boron. Epidermal breakdown and structural collapse in the tuber periderm were shown to be exacerbated by agricultural mismanagement including erratic watering schedules and high nitrogen fertilisation. Precision agriculture technologies including soil moisture sensors, controlled drip irrigation, and satellite-based remote sensing have shown promise in terms of mitigating physiological stress during pivotal tuber expansion phases and in terms of stabilization of the expanding environment.

Conclusion

This review offers a fresh synthesis of multidisciplinary data on potato tuber cracking together with a suggested integrated framework connecting environmental, physiological, and genetic factors. Finally, this work improves the larger debate on crop resilience under climate variability by providing evidence-based insights with practical and theoretical consequences for breeding, agronomy, and post-harvest systems.

Key words: Tuber Cracking, Management practices, Physiological