SOLAR RADIATION AS A PREHARVEST FACTOR AFFECTING THE TOMATO SUSCEPTIBILITY TO POSTHARVEST CHILLING INJURY

RUIZ, VE; REUTEMANN, AG; DERITA, MG; MARTÍNEZ, G; BOUZO, CA

Santa Fe

Congreso; XXXIII Reunión Argentina de Fisiología Vegetal; 2021

Sociedad Argentina de Fisiología Vegetal

Tomato tolerance (Solanum lycopersicum L.) to low temperatures decreases in sunshinefruit. Considering tomato is cultivated under different cultivation system modifying lightconditions, and its potential impact on fruit postharvest life, the aim of this work was tostudy the relationship between solar radiation and the fruit susceptibility to postharvestchilling injury. For this, two preharvest treatments were applied: permanent shaded plants(Sh) and direct sunligth exposed plants (Ex) as controls. The accumulated daily solarradiation, the air temperature and the vapor pressure deficit were determined, as well asthe fruit temperature. After harvesting, fruit were stored at 10 and 4 °C during ten days.Then, several determinations were carried out: calcium content, postharvest parameters,ions leakeage and thiobarbituric acid reactive species content, chilling injury index (CII)and morphological and anatomical description of epicarp pits. A randomized design withthree replications was applied. An ANOVA with a comparison of means by Tukey testwas performed (p = 0.01). The results showed that Ex fruit had higher CII values than theSh fruit, as well as fruit stored at 4 °C presented a more marked damage than those under10 °C. The membrane stability and the rot incidence presented a close correlation withthe CII. The lower calcium content in the Ex fruit could be one of the causes of theirresponse to chilling. Accumulated temperature at the field resulted critical factor affectingpostharvest chilling injury susceptibility. These evidences could help making decisionsfor crop management, according to the market target.