The Effect of Natural Light on Changes in Antioxidant Content and Color Parameters of Vine-ripened Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) Fruits
2011
Pék, Zoltán | Szuvandzsiev, Peter | Nemenyi, Andras | Helyes, Lajos | Lugasi, Andrea
During the vine ripening of tomato fruits (Solanum lycopersicum L.), the change in antioxidant content and color was studied under two different solar exposures. An experiment was carried out in 2008 and 2009 to determine how color evolution, surface temperature, and antioxidant content of tomato fruits were influenced by fruit position and exposure on trellised tomato plants. Trellised rows were oriented so that non-shaded fruits were subjected to full solar irradiation from 0900 HR to 1600 HR, whereas shaded fruits were completely shaded during the same time period. A significant difference (P = 0.001) between fruit surface temperatures of shaded or non-shaded fruits was observed. The more direct solar irradiation the fruits were exposed to, the higher the fruit surface temperatures increased. At 1400 HR, only the average temperature of non-shaded fruits was significantly higher (7.0 and 9.3 °C in 2008 and 2009, respectively) than the air temperature. At the end of the ripening process, color change of non-shaded fruits showed significantly higher CIELab hue compared with shaded fruits. A close negative correlation (R2 = 0.51) was detected between the hue color parameters and the cumulative fruit surface–air temperature difference of non-shaded fruits, but in the case of shaded fruits, there was only a weak (R2 = 0.29) correlation. Solar exposure had a great effect on the antioxidant content of tomato fruits. A higher fruit surface temperature resulted in significantly less lycopene and more polyphenols and ascorbic acid content in tomato fruits.
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