Handling and 1-MCP Application on the Quality and Shelf Life of Tomato

Two experiments were conducted between August and September in 2009 at the laboratories of the Natural Resources Institute (NRI) of the University of Greenwich in the UK to assess the effects of physical impact and 1 - MCP application on ethylene production and quality of tomatoes. In the first experiment, a total of 72 red-ripe fruits of the 'encore variety' were used for the experiment. Half (36) were dropped individually from a height of 1m to simulate rough handling while the remaining half were not dropped. The fruits were then kept in sealed glass jars (six fruits per jar) and stored in two incubators set at 12 oC and 20 oC respectively. This was a 22 factorial experiment in a randomised complete block design with three replications. Ethylene production, respiration, ripening and weight loss increased significantly at 20 oC with means of 7.85 l/kg/hr, 13.8 mlCO2/kg-hr, 16.80 and 97.08% respectively. However, there was no significant effect of temperature on fruit firmness. Undamaged fruits were slightly firmer with an average of 51.09 while the damaged ones were less firm and had an average of 41.14. In the second experiment, half of the test samples (48) of tomatoes were