Effect of Film Thickness on Postharvest Ripening and Quality Characteristics of Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) Fruit Under Modified Atmosphere Packaging
Abstract
Two different gauges, (0.04mm and 0.08mm) of low density polyethylene (LDPE) films were tested for their effectiveness in controlling ripening and quality of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L. cv. Cal J) fruit during modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) under ambient conditions of 60 to 65% relative humidity and 26 ± 1°C. Control fruits were stored under similar ambient conditions. Fruits stored in polymeric bags remained green for the 12 days of the experiment and had lower percent weight loss compared to the control fruit. Film thickness had a significant effect (p<0.05) on degradation of chlorophyll, physical colour development, synthesis of lycopene and modified atmosphere development while it had little effect on weight loss and extent of fruit spoilage. Carbon dioxide concentration in the 0.08mm LDPE bags was twice that in 0.04mm bags while oxygen concentration was lower in the 0.08mm bags. MAP delayed the increase in ascorbic acid that is associated with ripening. Fruits in 0.08mm bags had slightly lower ascorbic acid content and total titratable acidity (TTA) than those in the 0.04mm bags. MAP itself had no effect on total solids content. Upon transfer to normal atmosphere, fruits previously held in MAP ripened normally with the changes for fruits previously in 0.08mm bags being slower. These results indicate that when all other parameters are held constant, a thicker film is more effective in retarding ripening processes and extending fruit shelf life, thereby facilitating handling and reducing waste.KEY WORDS: Low density polyethylene, Lycopersicon esculentum L., Modified atmosphere packaging, Tomato fruit.
J. agric. Sci. technol. Vol.5(1) 2003: 39-60
Open access articles published in the Journal of Agriculture, Science and Technology are under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) License which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The CC BY license permits commercial and non-commercial re-use of an open-access article, as long as the author is properly attributed.
Copyright on any research article published in the Journal of Agriculture, Science and Technology is retained by the author(s). The authors grant the Journal of Agriculture, Science and Technology with a license to publish the article and identify itself as the original publisher. Authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its original authors, citation details and publisher are identified.
Use of the article in whole or in part in any medium requires proper citation as follows:
Title of Article, Names of the Author, Year of Publication, Journal Title, Volume (Issue) and page. Links to the final article on the JSRE website are encouraged.
The Creative Commons Attribution License does not affect any other rights held by authors or third parties in the article, including without limitation the rights of privacy and publicity. Use of the article must not assert or imply, whether implicitly or explicitly, any connection with, endorsement or sponsorship of such use by the author, publisher or any other party associated with the article.
For any reuse or distribution, users must include the copyright notice and make clear to others that the article is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution license, linking to the relevant Creative Commons web page. Users may impose no restrictions on the use of the article other than those imposed by the Creative Commons Attribution license.
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the article is made available as is and without representation or warranties of any kind whether express, implied, statutory or otherwise and including, without limitation, warranties of title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, absence of defects, accuracy, or the presence or absence of errors.
