Comparison of Ethylene Sensitivity of Three Tomato Cultivars From Different Tomato Types and Effects of Ethylene on Postharvest Performance

The aim of study was to investigate ethylene sensitivity of different types of tomatoes and the effects of ethylene on their postharvest performance. For that purpose, beefsteak, heirloom and cluster types of tomato fruit were harvested at the breaker maturity stage and divided into two groups one of which was treated with 150 μL L−1 ethylene and the other was untreated for comparison. Ethylene treated and untreated fruit were stored at 12 °C and 90+5% relative humidity for 35 days and subsamples removed every 7 days for postharvest quality analysis. After each removal time, fruit were kept at 20 °C for 3 days in order to determine shelf life performance. Ethylene treatment lead to increase respiration rate, ethylene production, weight loss but decreased fruit firmness in all tested tomato cultivars. Minimum ethylene production and respiration rate occurred in untreated beefsteak tomatoes. At the end of cold storage and shelf life period, the highest L* values and fruit firmness were recorded for control beefsteak tomatoes. The conclusion drawn from this experiment was that the cluster type of tomatoes was more sensitive, while beefsteak type of tomatoes was found to be less sensitive to ethylene treatment as they had the highest and lowest amount of ethylene productions respectively. Untreated beefsteak tomatoes exhibited maximal postharvest quality compared to other treatments after 35 days cold storage and shelf life.