Abstract
Over the last few decades, the improvement of tomato aroma and flavour has gained growing attention among breeders, agronomists and food technologists, as it is reputed as a key tool to further consolidate tomato consumption in the global market. However, this represents a difficult task, since more than 400 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) differently contribute to tomato aroma and its flavour perception. The recent development of molecular tools has allowed us to identify some of the major alleles influencing the volatile composition of tomatoes. Nonetheless, such composition involves an intricate weave of polygenic systems, highly influenced by external, pre and postharvest factors. With few exceptions, our knowledge about the effects of these determinants is still scarce, making it difficult to draw sound conclusions to best manage the future genetic potential. The present review examines the existing knowledge on major VOCs influencing tomato organoleptic quality, including their classification, metabolic pathways, genetics, and technical features that affect their concentrations in fruits. Particular emphasis is placed on preharvest and postharvest factors influencing their quantitative and qualitative expression, whose integrated study with omic tools will be increasingly necessary for the perspective of disseminating reliable operational indications throughout the production/distribution chain.
Highlights
IntroductionThe tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum L.) is the second most economically important vegetable crop in the world after the potato, being cultivated on a surface area of 5.0
The tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum L.) is the second most economically important vegetable crop in the world after the potato, being cultivated on a surface area of 5.0Mha, and generating an export value of 14.1 billion dollars [1]
The aim of this paper is to examine the current knowledge about the pre and postharvest factors affecting the composition of aroma volatiles in tomatoes
Summary
The tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum L.) is the second most economically important vegetable crop in the world after the potato, being cultivated on a surface area of 5.0. These intrinsic complaining about the poor flavour of modern tomatoes, so breeders, agronomists, and properties represent an intricate weave involving many polygenic systems [13], technologists have begun to pay more attention to this trait [9] The interest in this generating food a physiological complexity, which makes it difficult to respond to the topic is evidenced by the rapid increase in the number of Scopus® papers dealing with emerging consumer demands. The taste of fruit is related to the concentrations of importance [14,15] This polygenic nature implies that, beyond the genetic background, sugars (glucose, fructose and sucrose) and organic acids (mainly citric and malic), while its external factors such as environmental conditions, crop management, ripening stage, aromatic profile involves numerous volatile organic compounds (VOCs), whose interaction postharvest handling, storage, and processing can generate significant effects on tomato with taste and texture results in flavour perception The effects of cultivar, environment, crop management, postharvest handling, and processing conditions involved in the synthesis and postharvest evolution of VOCs will be exposed, with the aim of focusing on some technical perspectives for possible future research
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