Coloured plastic mulching influences post-harvest quality of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) fruits under polyhouse conditions

The study was carried out during 2019 and 2020 at ICAR-Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology, Abohar, Punjab to find out how different coloured plastic mulch treatments affected the physical and biochemical post-harvest quality traits of tomato fruits under polyhouse. Tomato crop was grown with different types of mulching treatments, viz. organic, black, red, yellow, white, silver and no mulch. The highest fruit sphericity (0.95) was observed under the organic mulch and white mulch while the least (0.91) was observed in silver mulch. The highest total soluble solids (TSS) values (5.06 °Brix) and ascorbic acid (40.8 mg/100 g) were observed under white mulch. The highest phenolic content (182.50 µg GAE/100 g) was found in silver mulch followed by black mulch (178.25 µg GAE/100 g). Red mulch had the highest CUPRAC antioxidant capacity (22.95 µmol TE/g), while yellow mulch had the highest lycopene concentration (2.76 mg/100g). In conclusion, white plastic mulch delivers better results regarding greater tomato fruit quality traits than other mulches. The outcomes of the present study's findings demonstrated the positive effects of different types of coloured plastic mulch on physical and biochemical characteristics of tomato fruits. Results showed that under polyhouse condition, white plastic mulch treatment followed by organic mulching treatment is strongly related to almost every biochemical indicator (viz. antioxidants and phenolic content). The build up of bioactive substances in mature tomato fruits is positively impacted by the mulching treatment.