TEXTURE QUALITY OF TOMATOES AS AFFECTED BY DIFFERENT STORAGE TEMPERATURES AND GROWTH HABIT

Abstract

The pericarp firmness and overall fruit firmness of different in growth habit tomatoes were investigated during ripening and storage in order to determine the texture changes as affected by the temperature. The study was carried out with eight tomato varieties. Mature-breaker tomato fruits were ripened at 12°C (chilled) and at 18-22°C (non-chilled). After postharvest ripening the chilled fruits were stored at 1°C and 6°C and non-chilled under the ripening temperature. All tomato fruits were stored up to 7% loss of water content. The regression analysis showed that pericarp and fruit firmness decrease during the ripening and storage. This negative correlation between texture quality and storage time depended on both, used temperature and growth habit. The pericarp firmness of chilled tomatoes retained higher values compared with non-chilled. However, effects of the different temperatures on overall fruit firmness were not detected. The smallest texture changes were established for indeterminate large tomatoes at prolonged shelf life. Regression models for the texture changes were obtained, which are applied to determine the shelf-life at the relevant temperature.