Study on Response of Heated Tomato After Cold Storage

This paper investigated the quality, degree of chilling injury and physiological changes of tomato fruits which were heated at 33 or 38 ℃ for 2, 5, or 8 days after cold storage ( 2±1 ℃,relative humidity 85 %～90 % ). It showed that suitable heat treatment could lower the respiration rates, cell membrane permeabilities and contents of malondialdehyde (MDA), increase free proline contents and decrease chilling injuries of tomato fruit. The combinations of temperature and duration giving the best effects on the fruit were 33℃ for 5 days and 38℃ for 2 days; the treatment of 33 ℃ for 2 days gave less effect for its relatively low temperature and short duration; the treatments for 8 days made the fruit injury, increase MDA contents and cell membrane permeabilities, lower fruit hardnesses and raise off-flavor of fruit for their long duration. There was a positive correlation between the chilling injury index (CII) and cell membrane permeability of tomato fruit, the correlation coefficient r= 0.9744.