Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) is the leading vegetable in terms of production in Kenya. The Kenyan local market has a wide variety of tomato cultivars with a wide range of morphological and sensorial characteristics. However, information on the nutritional and postharvest quality of these varieties is lacking. The aim of this research was to investigate and identify tomato varieties of superior postharvest quality and recommend them to small and medium scale farmers. In this study, six tomato varieties were grown in a greenhouse and analyzed at three maturity stages (mature green, turning and red ripe). The tomatoes were analyzed at specific days after harvest and storage at room temperature (25 o C). Percentage weight loss, color, respiration and ethylene production rates were analyzed to assess the postharvest quality of the tomatoes. The color was measured using a Minolta Chromameter while the respiration rate and ethylene production rates were determined using the static system approach. Color, weight loss, respiration and ethylene production rates were positively affected by storage time when harvested at the three maturity stages. The percentage weight loss of the tomato fruits was higher in the determinate varieties, and at the turning stage of maturity (3.8 %). Minor color changes were observed after storage of the tomatoes harvested at red stage for six days. Both rates of respiration and ethylene production were low, with the respiration rate ranging between 56-10 ml CO2 Kg -1 h -1 . The Chonto F1 variety had the highest rate of ethylene production (5.4 µL C2H4 Kg -1 h -1 ) on the 4 th day of storage after harvest at the red ripe stage. Overall, the indeterminate tomato varieties displayed better postharvest quality that can prolong the fruits shelf life for marketing. In turn, the turning stage of maturity proved to be a better stage to harvest tomatoes as the color development was more uniform.

Seaweeds, also known as macroalgae are marine plants used widely as food and applied in other food allied industries, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and agrochemical industries. Their production has increased over the years with advancement in identification and cultivation of different seaweed species. Over the years seaweeds have been explored as a food due to their nutrition value and bioactive compounds that are beneficial to human nutrition and health. With this principle, seaweeds can also be used as feed ingredient in aqua feeds especially due to the fact that it is a source of omega-3 and hence can be used as an alternative to fish oil whose supply has declined. Studies have shown that polyunsaturated fatty acids which are important in fish nutrition can account for about 50% of total fatty acids in seaweeds. In addition to being a good source of polyunsaturated fatty acids, seaweeds provide protein and minerals, vitamins. They are also characterized with high levels of protein rich in all the amino acids relative to some higher plant-based protein crops like soya bean. This review, therefore, aims to look at the potential of seaweed as an aqua feed ingredient with the emphasis on the nutritional characteristics.