Abstract
Commercially packed mature-green Florida 'Sanibel', 'Florida47', and 'SunPride' tomatoes {Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) that had not been treated with ethylene were immersed in water at 24°C (ambient control) or 44 to 54°C for various times. Tomatoes were evaluated for ripeness stage, decay, heat injury and chilling injury symptoms, and surface color following 2 weeks of storage at 2 or 12°C and subsequently for up to 10 days of ripening at 20°C. Treatment for 60- 90 min at 44, 46, or 48°C, or 2.5-30 min at 54°C caused heat in jury symptoms (ripening inhibition, stem end creasing, tissue collapse, increased decay). Exposure to 50°C for 2.5 min did not cause any detectable heat injury, whereas the 5 or 10 min at 50°C or 2.5 min at 52°C treatments were associated with only slight incidence and severity of heat injury. All four of those treatments prevented chilling injury symptom development and reduced decay incidence. Exposure to 50°C water for 2.5, 5, or 10 min stimulated ripening-related color development after 12°C storage, but, after 2°C storage, color development of hot water-treated tomatoes was delayed, although normal. Heat treatments tended to magnify maturity variability within a lot of tomatoes, with less mature fruit apparently more sensitive to ripening inhibition and heat injury.
