Abstract
The diversity preserved within the European long shelf life tomato landraces (LSL) is a unique source to design high quality tomato products better adapted to changing environmental conditions and, thereby, to reduce food losses. The adaptation of LSL to water deficit (WD) management practices and their postharvest keeping ability can be used as tools to concomitantly enhance fruit quality and sustainable production. In this study, we investigated the effect of WD conditions and the plant growing environment (open field vs. tunnel) on quality traits of two genotypes of the Penjar LSL variety (modern hybrid (MV) and landrace (LR)). Changes in ripening-related quality traits (fruit ethylene production, respiration rate, firmness, color, soluble solids content, titratable acidity and the content of antioxidants, as well as specific sugars and acids) in response to the different preharvest factors were evaluated at the time of harvest and after a short period of storage (30 days), following actual commercial practices. Significant differences among genotypes were encountered for most quality traits at the time of harvest and higher intra- and inter-environment heterogeneity was observed in the LR than in the MV genotype. In general, Penjar tomatoes exhibit a low physiological activity (ethylene production, 0.56–1.33 µL kg−1 h−1, respiration rate: 0.015–0.026 mg CO2 kg−1 h−1) at harvest. In both genotypes, WD increased to a different extent the fruit external color (redness, lightness) as well as the sensory (SSC) and nutritional (antioxidant capacity) fruit profiles. By contrast, the growing environment had little impact on most fruit quality traits. Postharvest storage only led to a slight reduction in the fruit respiration and ethylene production, lower sugars and acids content, enhanced color and no firmness changes. Overall, the results from this study demonstrate that selecting the appropriate genotypes is the most important step towards the design of high-quality LSL tomatoes, while WD and short-term storage can be used by farmers as a strategy to differentiate the product quality in specific market niches.
Highlights
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) fruit quality, both sensory and nutritional, is becoming the first appeal for consumers, who complain about the deterioration of flavor in modern commercial cultivars [1] produced under high-input cropping systems [2]
Fruit quality traits, which are the result of the interaction between the chemical composition of the fruit and human sense-receptors, are regulated by complex interactions between genetic, environmental, agronomical and postharvest factors [3,4]
Mediterranean long shelf life (LSL) landraces are highly appreciated in Italy and Spain [9], and exhibit a rich sensory and nutritional profile when they are grown under traditional cropping systems [9,10,11,12]
Summary
During storage the chemical composition of the tomato fruit evolves [26,27], triggering significant changes in the organoleptic and nutritional profile These changes are more pronounced in the LSL tomatoes because of their longer shelf life than normal ripening varieties, and the common practice to consume the LSL fruits after a postharvest period [28,29,30,31,32]. The effects of the growing environment, water irrigation and fertilization on the agronomic performance of Penjar tomatoes has been recently studied, showing that low-input practices optimize crop efficiency and increase shelf life, boosting the profitability of farmers interested in selling “aged” tomatoes [25]. In this study we present the effects that WD, growing environment (tunnel vs. open-air) and short-term postharvest storage (30 days) have on ripening-related quality traits of Penjar tomatoes
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