ESTIMATION OF TOMATO FRUIT COLOR CHANGE WITH DIFFERENT STORAGE TEMPERATURES AT DIFFERENT MATURITY STAGES

Tomato fruit color is the most important marketing factor that is often used for the purchase decision of customer. Since tomato fruit color is varied with the harvesting time and the ripening in tomato fruit is affected by storage temperature, it is difficult to achieve an even tomato color at the shipping time. In this study, the effects of storage duration and temperatures on the tomato fruit color change and quality with different maturity stages were investigated. In addition, tomato fruit color change at different maturity stages after storage was estimated using a multiple regression analysis. Tomatoes were grown hydroponically in greenhouse. Tomato fruit samples with pink to red were stored in cool incubator for 48 h. The storage tempera¬ture was adjusted at 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30°C, respectively. The maturity stage of tomato fruit was evaluated with chromaticity using image analysis. Our results showed that increase in tomato fruit color was the highest for pink tomato fruit stored at 25°C. Sweetness, acidity, firmness, and fresh weight of tomato fruit were slightly decreased after storage. Actually, in some cases (25°C, maturity stage 10), sweetness was increased after storage. Tomato fruit color change after storage was estimated with variables of tomato fruit color before storage, storage duration and temperatures by multiple regression (R²=0.88). Our results suggested that tomato fruit color estimation technique can be contributed to control the tomato fruit color with storage.