Effect of Postharvest Transport and Storage on Color and Firmness Quality of Tomato

Abstract

Transport duration affects the vibration level generated which has adverse effects on fresh produce during transportation. Furthermore, temperature affects the quality of fresh commodities during storage. This study evaluated physical changes in tomatoes during transportation and storage. Tomatoes were transported at three distances (100, 154, and 205 km) from a local farm and delivered to the Postharvest Laboratory where vibration acceleration was recorded per distance. Tomato was stored at two different temperatures (10 °C and 22 °C) for 12 days. The physical qualities like weight loss and firmness of all tomato samples were evaluated. RGB image acquisition system was used to assess the color change of tomato. The results of vibration showed that over 40% of accelerations occurred in the range of 0.82–1.31 cm/s2 of all transport distances. Physical quality analyses like weight loss and firmness were highly affected by transportation distance, storage temperature, and storage period. The reduction in weight loss and firmness was the highest in tomatoes transported from the farthest distance and stored at 22 °C. Lightness, yellowness, and hue values showed a high reduction as transport distance increased particularly in tomatoes stored at 22 °C. Redness, total color difference, and color indices increased significantly on tomatoes transported from 205 km and stored at 10 °C and 22 °C. The study indicated that the increase in transportation distance and storage temperature cause higher changes in the physical qualities of tomatoes.

Extending Shelf Life and Maintaining Quality of Tomato Fruit by Calcium Chloride, Hydrogen Peroxide, Chitosan, and Ozonated Water

“…The most preferred stages for consumers are the light and full red stages, which decay vastly after harvest. Fruit and vegetables quality is mainly affected by postharvest conditions such as transportation and storage conditions [4]. Some previous postharvest application has been utilized to extend the shelf-life of tomatoes during storage such as using hydrogen sulfide [5], chitosan coating [6], abscisic acid [7], and the use of essential oils [8].…”

Bruise Susceptibility and Impact on Quality Parameters of Pears During Storage

“…Bruising reduced firmness and weight loss of packaged kiwifruit after 10 days of storage (Xia et al, 2020). Decreased weight of the fruit and the unsightly shriveling lead to economic losses (Al-Dairi et al, 2021d). As one of the important quality attributes in fruit production, the fruit weight influences not only consumer preference but also the marketing of fresh fruit (Al-Dairi et al, 2021a).…”

Effect of Simulated Vibration and Storage on Quality of Tomato

“…All captured images were transferred to a personal computer and stored in JPG format for subsequent analysis. ImageJ software (v. 1.53, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA) was performed for image processing [6]. All obtained RGB values were transformed to CIEL*a*b* color coordinates.…”

“…Figure 3 shows the significant (p < 0.05) interaction effect of treatment tion/control groups), storage conditions, and storage duration on tomato L* val storage time, a decreasing trend of the L* value of all vibrated and non-vibrated t at both storage temperatures for the 12 days storage was observed due to a redu Ghazal et al [30] also recorded higher weight loss on tomato fruit stressed to vibration compared to the control tomato group due to higher respiration rate and mechanical damages caused by the simulated transport vibration. According to Endalew [31] and Al-Dairi et al [6], storage at ambient temperature resulted in a greater transpiration rate that leads to wilting, shriveling, and weight reduction in tomatoes. Also, Al-Dairi et al [2] recorded a low weight loss percentage (3.18%) on tomato fruit stored for 12 days at low temperature (10 • C) which attributed to water retention that occurred at this condition.…”

“…The quality of fresh produce is reduced during transportation due to biological and physical damages/changes caused by vibration [6]. Vibration generated from transportation caused different external and internal damages to fresh produce.…”