Comparison of Ripening Characteristics and Sensory Evaluation in Attached and Detached Tomato Fruits

Abstract

Comparison between the field ripened tomatoes and the room ripened was made as for both ripening characteristics and sensory evaluation. Room ripened fruits were picked at the mature green, turning or pink stage, and ripened at 25°C.
Fruit picked at the mature green stage had lower rate of carbon dioxide and ethylene production throughout ripening in ‘Kyoryoku-goko’ tomatoes, and showed a delayed initiation of gas production in the course of climacteric rise in ‘Kyoryoku-toko’, when compared with field ripened fruit. No difference in the rate of gas production during ripening was observed between the fruits attached on the plant and those picked at the turning and pink stages in both cultivars.
Free abscisic acid content in the pericarp of ‘Kyoryoku-goko’ fruit picked at the mature green stage increased slightly during ripening, while fruit harvested at the turning and pink stages accumulated more abscisic acid than those on the plant.
In the sensory test of ‘Kyoryoku-toko’ tomatoes conducted at the full ripe stage, fruit picked at the mature green stage was evaluated as being significantly less desirable in texture, flavor, sweetness and sourness than fruit ripened on the plant. Fruit picked at the turning stage was less only in sourness, and no significant difference for all sensory characteristics was evaluated in the fruit picked at the pink stage, when compared with field ripened fruit. There was no significant difference in the fruit color among any of the fruits tested. Room ripened fruits which were evaluated as being “poor” in sweetness or sourness contained less glucose and fructose in the pericarp or less citric acid in the locular than field ripened fruit.
It seemed, therefore, that tomatoes should be harvested after the turning stage, since fruit in the mature green stage may be partially deficient in the preparedness necessary for ripening at harvest time.