This study was conducted to assess the physicochemical changes and overall nutritional implications of greenhouse-grown "TY Megaton" and "Yureka" tomato cultivars under on-vine and postharvest ripening conditions. In the first group, tomatoes were harvested from a vine at the breaker, pink, and red ripening stages and sampled immediately. The second group was harvested at the breaker stage and allowed to ripen under room conditions to the pink and red stages based on color values, similar to the vine-ripened samples. The results of the present study revealed that fresh weight loss was below the maximum acceptable weight loss and firmness was above the minimum limit of marketing after postharvest ripening to the pink and red stages; moreover, this process did not have any deleterious effect on the antioxidant properties or antioxidant activity of the tomatoes. Hence, the results clearly indicate that breaker-stage tomatoes can be postharvest-ripened under room conditions without affecting their marketability and nutritional components.

Cherry tomato is a perishable fruit due to its high rate of ethylene production and respiration during ripening. 1-Methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) is known to control ripening and reduce decay of fruit by inhibiting ethylene action. In the present study, the influence of 1-MCP application on quality and storability of ‘Unicorn’ cherry tomato was observed. Fruit at pink and red maturity stages were put in the commercial plastic containers and sealed with 40 μm low density polyethylene (LDPE) film, treated with 1-MCP (0 µL L−1 (control), 0.035 µL L−1 and 0.1 µL L−1), and stored at 10 °C in 85 ± 5% relative humidity (RH). The results indicated that application of 1-MCP at 0.1 µL L−1 significantly affected firmness, cell wall thickness, water soluble pectin, weight loss, surface color, lycopene content and physiological parameters in both pink and red maturity stages compared to 0.035 µL L−1 and control. 1-MCP treatment at 0.1 µL L−1 kept the fruits firmer than 0.035 µL L−1 and the control throughout the storage period for both maturity stages. Cell wall degradation in the control treatment was higher compared to the 0.1 µL L−1 1-MCP treated fruits in both maturity stages throughout the storage period. Results of this study revealed the effectiveness of application of 0.1 µL L−1 1-MCP on quality and shelf life of cherry tomato.