Sensitivity to chilling injury of three local tomato cultivars (Akoma, Pectomech and Power) at full ripe stage was investigated. Full ripe fruits of the three cultivars were stored for seven, fourteen and twenty-one days at 10 o C and then transferred to ambient condition (20.49 o C and 54.05 % relative humidity) storage for seven days during which the various treatments were observed for signs of chilling injury. There was a significant difference (p<0.05) in the sensitivity of the three cultivars to chilling injury. For fruits stored at 10 o C for seven days, Akoma was least affected by chilling. Pectomech was the least tolerant to chilling after seven days of storage at the low temperature but there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between its sensitivity to chilling and that of Power. There was, however, no significant difference (p>0.05) in the overall quality of all the three cultivars stored for seven days under the low temperature. Akoma fruits had the best quality after fourteen days of chilling and maintained their quality for four days under ambient storage conditions. Power was the most sensitive to chilling injury after fourteen days and had the lowest quality. Pectomech was of better quality than Power after fourteen days of storage but the difference was not significant (p>0.05). After twenty-one days of storage at low temperature, Power was the most susceptible to chilling and was of the lowest quality. Power and Pectomech lasted for one day under ambient conditions after twenty-one days of exposure to the low temperature. Although, Pectomech scored a better quality than Power, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in their susceptibility to chilling. Akoma was the least susceptible to chilling after twenty-one days and maintained its quality for a period of three days under ambient conditions. The most tolerant tomato cultivar to chilling injury was Akoma and the least tolerant cultivar was Power.
The relationship between storage temperature, relative humidity and seed water content was investigated for six indigenous forest tree seed species, namely Garcinia kola, Terminalia superba, Terminalia ivorensis, Mansonia altissima, Entandrophragma angolense and Khaya anthotheca in Ghana. Seeds were equilibrated over a series of lithium chloride solutions with relative humidities ranging from 12 to 93% and silica gel with relative humidity of 3% at 20 ºC. Seeds reached equilibrium with different days depending on seed size and structure, ranging from 13 days for E. angolense to 91 days for G. kola. When seeds equilibrated, moisture contents were determined gravimetrically, and values of moisture contents were then plotted against relative humidity to construct moisture sorption isotherms for the species. Seeds of T. superba, T. ivorensis, M. altissima, E. angolense and K. anthotheca, exhibited a sigmoidal relationship between seed water content and relative humidity indicative of three regions of water binding. Contrarily to other reports, the shape of the isotherm curve for G. kola -a desiccation sensitive species -also showed the reversed sigmoid pattern similar to isotherm curves of orthodox species rather than the monotonic shape. The isotherms showed that seed moisture content increased with increasing relative humidity. Seed samples of G. kola, placed at all relative humidities chambers, lost water(desorption) as the initial water content of 58% was very high and, therefore, possessed a higher water potential than the environments. Seeds of the other species either lost water (desorption) to the relative humidity chambers, or absorbed water from the chambers depending on the relative humidity of the environment they were placed.
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