Determination of post-harvest storage life of tomato fruits

Firmness, mass, volume and density of fresh as well as stored tomatoes were studied to determine the storage life of tomatoes. Storage period varied between 0 and 168 h at 15 to 30 degrees C temperature and 90% relative humidity (RH). Mass and volume were measured using basic methods and density was computed. Surface firmness of tomato was determined using force deformation curves obtained on uniaxial compression testing machine. Surface firmness and volume decreased nonlinearly till certain time of storage, whereas mass decreased linearly throughout the storage period; and the density showed a reverse trend at all temperatures except 30 degrees C. The critical storage periods of tomatoes based on firmness and density were found to be 48 h at 30 degrees C, 120 h at 20-25 degrees C and more than 144 h at 15 degrees C of storage temperature and 90% RH.