Abstract:
This study was conducted to assess the physicochemical changes and overall nutritional
implications of greenhouse-grown “TY Megaton” and “Yureka” tomato cultivars under on-vine and
postharvest ripening conditions. In the first group, tomatoes were harvested from a vine at the breaker,
pink, and red ripening stages and sampled immediately. The second group was harvested at the
breaker stage and allowed to ripen under room conditions to the pink and red stages based on color
values, similar to the vine-ripened samples. The results of the present study revealed that fresh weight
loss was below the maximum acceptable weight loss and firmness was above the minimum limit of
marketing after postharvest ripening to the pink and red stages; moreover, this process did not have
any deleterious effect on the antioxidant properties or antioxidant activity of the tomatoes. Hence, the
results clearly indicate that breaker-stage tomatoes can be postharvest-ripened under room conditions
without affecting their marketability and nutritional components.
