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Postharvest losses in tomatoes are not only quantitative but also qualitative losses which directly can have a negative impact on consumer's preference, nutritional quality and income of producers. Therefore, it is important to identify factors that can affect the postharvest quality and antioxidant composition of tomatoes. Tomato quality is an outcome of several factors including cultivar selection, environmental conditions where it grows and preharvest practices carried out during production. Preharvest practices carried out during production that affects the postharvest quality need to be considered thoroughly. Harvesting at proper maturity stage and ripening conditions are critical and must be carefully established for each cultivar. Knowledge of preharvest factors that affect the quality and antioxidant composition of tomato fruits and acquiring the skill of management can play a role on the production of best quality fruits at harvest, which in turn directly affect postharvest quality and nutritional composition. Therefore, it is of great significance to know the preharvest factors that can help to produce superior quality tomato fruits and equally important to use proper postharvest handling and management technologies, to maintain the quality and nutritional composition of the fruits after harvest. This review is therefore conducted to emphasize on some preharvest and postharvest factors that can affect the postharvest qualities, antioxidant properties and shelf life of tomatoes.

Cherry tomato is a perishable fruit due to its high rate of ethylene production and respiration during ripening. 1-Methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) is known to control ripening and reduce decay of fruit by inhibiting ethylene action. In the present study, the influence of 1-MCP application on quality and storability of ‘Unicorn’ cherry tomato was observed. Fruit at pink and red maturity stages were put in the commercial plastic containers and sealed with 40 μm low density polyethylene (LDPE) film, treated with 1-MCP (0 µL L−1 (control), 0.035 µL L−1 and 0.1 µL L−1), and stored at 10 °C in 85 ± 5% relative humidity (RH). The results indicated that application of 1-MCP at 0.1 µL L−1 significantly affected firmness, cell wall thickness, water soluble pectin, weight loss, surface color, lycopene content and physiological parameters in both pink and red maturity stages compared to 0.035 µL L−1 and control. 1-MCP treatment at 0.1 µL L−1 kept the fruits firmer than 0.035 µL L−1 and the control throughout the storage period for both maturity stages. Cell wall degradation in the control treatment was higher compared to the 0.1 µL L−1 1-MCP treated fruits in both maturity stages throughout the storage period. Results of this study revealed the effectiveness of application of 0.1 µL L−1 1-MCP on quality and shelf life of cherry tomato.