Effect of Time After Harvest on Stem Scar Water Absorption in Tomato

Abstract

Fresh market tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) handled through dump tanks and flumes at packinghouses can absorb water via stem scar tissues. This water uptake can lead to internalization of various hazardous bacteria, including Erwinia carotovora (Jones), the causal agent of bacterial soft rot. Studies were conducted to determine if the interval between harvest and water immersion affected water uptake for ‘Florida 47’ and ‘Sebring’, cultivars with high and low water uptake, respectively. Fruit were held for 2, 8, 14, and 26 hours after harvest for the fall season and 2, 4, 6, 8, and 14 hours for the following spring season before water immersion. Mature green fruit were weighed, submerged in water for 2 min and then reweighed to determine water uptake. During the submergence, air pressure was applied such that the fruit were exposed to a static water-head equivalent to 1.3 m. In the fall season ‘Sebring’ fruit absorbed significantly less water than ‘Florida 47’ fruit at 8 and 26 hours after harvest. In the spring season fruit of ‘Sebring’ absorbed significantly less water than ‘Florida 47’ at all times after harvest, confirming results of previous studies. In the fall season, the time interval between harvest and treatment did not affect water uptake for either cultivar. By contrast, in the spring season fruit absorbed significantly greater amounts of water at 2 hours as compared with 4, 6, 8, and 14 hours after harvest, whereas similar amounts of water were absorbed at 4–14 hours after harvest. Therefore, to minimize the tendency of fruit to absorb water, packinghouse managers should hold freshly harvested fruit for at least 4 hours before immersing them in the dump tank.