Post-harvest treatments to improve the shelf-life of tomato fruits at ambient conditions

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of various post-harvest treatments on physicochemical parameters of tomato fruits. Different treatments viz., control, polyethylene- 25μ and 50μ; waxes-semperfresh, stayfresh and stafresh; bavistin 0.05% and combination of bavistin with these treatments were tried. Out of these treatments, the combination of bavistin 0.05% + stayfresh was found to be most effective in improving the shelf-life (17.50 days as against 10 days in the control). The same treatment also recorded least physiological loss in weight. Retention of TSS, acidity and ascorbic acid content were also highest in the same treatment. This treatment also recorded the highest values for lycopene content (4.51 mg/100 g). Thus, the post harvest treatment of tomatoes with 0.05% bavistin + stayfresh was found to be best for extension of shelf-life and maintaining the fruit quality.