Effects of Different Post-harvest Treatments on Physico-Chemical Attributes and Shelf Life of Tomato Fruits

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of different local treatments with and without CaCl2 on the quality and shelf life of tomato fruits. Mature green tomato fruits were evaluated, and data were taken on weight loss, shelf life, titratable acidity, TSS, reducing sugars, total sugars and vitamin C contents during storage at ambient temperature (20±5°C). The fruits were then evaluated for changes in quality parameters within the different stages of ripening. Results showed that dipping tomato fruits in 8% CaCl2 for ten minutes does not have beneficial effects on shelf life and quality retention of tomato fruits. Wrapping tomato fruits with polythene resulted in least weight loss, maximum contents of TSS, titratable acidity, total and reducing sugars as well as ascorbic acid and also maximum shelf life of tomato fruits among all other treatments, and thus can be used effectively for storing green mature tomato fruits for upto 25 days in ambient temperature.