Physicochemical Quality Changes in Tomatoes during Delayed Cooling and Storage in a Controlled Chamber

Abstract

The exposure of tomato fruits to unfavorable environments during the postharvest could result in severe losses along the supply chain. In this research, four tomato cultivars were stored in a controlled chamber under three levels of postharvest conditions to investigate the effects of delayed cooling on selected physicochemical quality parameters of the tomatoes. The tomato cultivars were subjected to three postharvest treatments: Immediate storage (IS) at harvest day; delayed storage (DS), leaving tomatoes without cover for one day; and under cover (DSC), separately in a greenhouse, and then stored in a controlled chamber at a temperature of 10 ± 1 °C and relative humidity of 90% ± 3%. Fresh weight, firmness, total soluble solids (TSS), and hue angle (h°) were examined over 15 days, every 5 days. Among the tomato cultivars, Cherry (7160), treated under DS showed the highest weight loss (13.01%) and firmness loss (42.14%) after 15 days of storage. Dabol (large) tomatoes treated with DS showed higher changes in TSS (°Bx) values (4.79 to 5.76). Low changes in hue angle values were found in IS-treated Cherry (7160) tomatoes at the end of the storage period. Overall quality changes were slower for all tomato cultivars treated with IS than with other treatments throughout the storage period. This study indicated the importance of reducing cooling delays to maintain the quality during the postharvest and prolong storage of harvested tomatoes.

Antioxidant Properties, γ-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA) Content, and Physicochemical Characteristics of Tomato Cultivars

“…The highest value (11.88 N) and the lowest value (8.31 N) of firmness were recorded from 'Mamirio' and 'TY VIP' cultivars, respectively, although the difference between 'Mamirio', 'Tori', and 'Arya' was not significant. Several research results have also found significant differences among different cultivars showing the dependence of firmness on cultivars [15,16,19,30,31]. However, the firmness result from all the four cultivars was above the recommended limits for home consumption (1.28 N) and retailers (1.46 N) [32].…”

Edible coating as postharvest management strategy for shelf‐life extension of fresh tomato (Solanum lycopersicumL.): An overview

“…In tomato, firmness and weight loss are crucial parameters affecting the textural properties. During storage of tomato, there is a loss of firmness due to the enhanced activity of the cell wall degrading enzymes, such as polygalacturonase and pectin methyl esterase, leading to reduction in cell‐to‐cell adhesion, resulting in loss of cell wall strength (Dijik et al., 2006; Kabir et al., 2020). The activity of enzymes generally depends on respiration rate and ethylene concentration (Sinha et al., 2019).…”

Impact of Ozonisation Time and Dose on Health Related and Microbiological Properties of Rapanui Tomatoes

“…TSS is a refractometric index that indicates the proportion of dissolved solids in a solution. It reflects the sum of sugars (sucrose and hexoses, 65%), acids (citrate and malate, 13%) and other minor components (phenols, amino acids, soluble pectins, ascorbic acid and minerals) in the tomato fruit pulp [16,32]. Sugars combined with organic acids have a decisive impact on the tomato fruit taste, as well as its utility in the processing industry [33].…”

“…Tomatoes placed at room temperature ripen fast, undergoing changes in colour, firmness, taste and chemical composition, following which they begin to exhibit weight loss [16]. These factors considerably shorten their shelf life and the length of time the fruit retains acceptable quality [17].…”