Potato, rice, wheat and maize are the main agricultural products for many countries worldwide. During centuries, potato crop was the first source of incomes and the main non-grain basic food in developed countries and, actually, still being the first agricultural product in many developing areas.Potato tubers are considered a valuable source of energy but also of minerals, vitamins and phytochemicals. The recent increase in consumers' concern for healthy food demands research of physical, chemical and nutritional properties of potatoes. It demonstrated that potato tubers are a significant source of antioxidant compounds in human nutrition, phenolic compounds and carotenoids being the main contributors (Reyes et al. 2004, Lachman and Hamouz 2005, Hamouz et al. 2006. The physicochemical compounds of potato tubers depend on factors such as agricultural practices, agroclimatic factors, type of soil or cultivar and its characteristics can vary considerably. Some factors as altitude, geographical area and temperature during the growing period, showed a strong relationship with the total phenol content in tubers (Hamouz et al. 2010, Zarzecka et al. 2017. Also the temperature during the crop cycle affects total carotenoid content in tubers (Hejtmánková et al. 2013 Physicochemical properties of the tuber as a commercial product differ according to environmental conditions of the area and the growing season. The knowledge about how weather affects these characteristics, allows estimating the correct selection of the cultivars in order to obtain the highest yields or desired physicochemical qualities. In this sense, the effect of the main meteorological factors on the physicochemical characteristics (size, texture, dry matter, soluble solids, phenols, flavonoids, carotenoids and inhibitor concentration (IC 50 )) of 8 potato cultivars growing in A Limia (North-West Spain) was analysed. The study was conducted during three consecutive years (2014)(2015)(2016) and the results presented significant differences in the analyzed parameters between years (P < 0.05). Spearman's correlations and principal component analysis showed that the tubers of 2014 (with colder weather conditions) had the highest phenol content and the lowest flavonoids and carotenoids content. Therefore, the temperature positively favoured the flavonoid content and carotenoid content (samples from 2016), although the size of potato tubers was considerably smaller.
