A study on postharvest calcium treatment on chilling injury of tomato fruit

Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) provides a significant amount of vitamins, carotenes, dietary fibres, minerals, and flavonoids, making it a valuable source of nutrients. However, chilling injury (CI) affects tomatoes when the temperature falls below 12°C. Postharvest losses of tomato fruit range from 25% to 42% worldwide, representing losses both in terms of quantity and quality. This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of calcium chloride (CaCl2) treatments on tomato fruit’s CI and the physicochemical quality of postharvest tomato fruit with CaCl2 treatment. Different strengths of CaCl2 (0.5, 2.5, and 4.5% w/v) and control (distilled water) were prepared, and the fruits were soaked for 10 mins as a calcium treatment. Tomato fruits were stored at (5±1°C) prior to the physicochemical analysis; the percentage of chilling injury, surface pitting, weight loss, pH, total soluble sugar (TSS), and concentration of vitamin C was determined at 0, 7, 14, 28 and 42 days of storage. The data significance was analysed by ANOVA test. The result showed that the higher concentration of CaCl2 can significantly decrease (p<0.05) the chilling injury symptom of the tomato fruit for all treatments. The treatment of 4.5% w/v of CaCl2 at days 28 and 42 was found to have a lower CI symptom with (0.66±0.01%) and (1.20±0.01%) respectively. The other physicochemical characteristics were also changed along the treatment of CaCl2.