Prestorage heat treatment of tomatoes prevents chilling injury and reversibly inhibits ripening.
Lurie, S.; Klein, J. D.; Watkins, C.; Ross, G.; Boss, P.; Ferguson, I. F.;
Acta Horticulturae Year: 1993 Issue: No. 343 Pages: 283-285
1993
บทคัดย่อ
The effect of holding tomato fruits at 38 deg C for 3 days on the subsequent ripening and susceptibility of fruits to low temperature injury was studied. Mature-green fruits were ripened either at 20 deg for 10 days or heated in a forced air chamber at 38 deg and 95% RH for 3 days prior to ripening at 20 deg or storage at 2 deg . Further fruits were placed immediately at 2 deg after picking. Ethylene, colour development and external chilling injury were monitored during storage and ripening. Ethylene production was almost completely inhibited during heat treatment, but it recovered rapidly after transfer of fruits to 20 deg . After 3 weeks of storage at 2 deg , ethylene in heated fruits showed a normal rise during ripening while control fruits produced less ethylene; control fruits did not become red, while heated fruits changed from green to red normally. The control fruits also developed brown sunken spots on their peel and were more susceptible to fungal pathogens. The mRNA of 2 heat-shock proteins (HSP17 and HSP70) were greatly elevated in heat-treated fruits and these high levels were maintained during 3 weeks of storage at 2 deg . The results indicate that prestorage heating of tomatoes can extend their storage life and shelf-life. There is a correlation between the maintenance of heat-shock protein mRNA during storage and the inhibition of chilling injury in heated tomatoes.