Bruise Damage and Quality Changes in Impact-Bruised, Stored Tomatoes

Abstract

This study examined three main possible effects (impact, storage temperature, and duration) that cause and extend the level of bruising and other quality attributes contributing to the deterioration of tomatoes. The impact threshold level required to cause bruising was conducted by subjecting tomato samples to a steel ball with a known mass from different drop heights (20, 40, and 60 cm). The samples were then divided and stored at 10 and 22 °C for 10 days for the further analysis of bruise area and any physiological, chemical, and nutritional changes at two day intervals. Six prediction models were constructed for the bruised area and other quality attribute changes of the tomato. Storage time, bruise area, weight loss, redness, total color change, color index, total soluble solids, and pigments content (lycopene and carotenoids) showed a significant (p < 0.05) increase with the increase of drop height (impact level) and storage temperature. After 10 days of storage, high drop impact and storage at 22 °C generated a higher reduction in firmness, lightness, yellowness, and hue° (color purity). Additionally, regression model findings showed the significant effect of storage duration, storage temperature, and drop height on the measured variables (bruise area, weight loss, firmness, redness, total soluble solids, and lycopene) at a 5% probability level with a determination coefficient (R2) ranging from 0.76 to 0.95. Bruising and other quality attributes could be reduced by reducing the temperature during storage. This study can help tomato transporters, handlers, and suppliers to understand the mechanism of bruising occurrence and how to reduce it.

Effect of Postharvest Transport and Storage on Color and Firmness Quality of Tomato

“…Furthermore, Çakmak et al [13] [41]. The findings of this study were also in agreement with the findings of Pathare and Al-Dairi [42] who recorded a high percentage of weight reduction in tomato for 10 days storage at room temperature.…”

Bruise Susceptibility and Impact on Quality Parameters of Pears During Storage

“…Bruising is the most prevalent form of mechanical damage in many fruits, which is caused largely by excessive impact and/or compression forces concentrated on a small area of the fruit surface against a rigid body or fruit against fruit mainly involved during mechanical handling (Pathare and Al-Dairi, 2021). Furthermore, bruise damage modifies physiological and metabolic processes, leading to faster ripening, internal browning, and quality losses (Opara and Pathare, 2014;Costa et al, 2018;Hussein et al, 2019).…”

Early detection of slight bruises in apples by cost-efficient near-infrared imaging

“…There are two basic bruising techniques which are pendulum-based method and drop test that could be applied for various kinds of fruit [26]. The pendulum-based method involves hitting the apple with a pendulum arm [7], [9], [14], [24], [27], [28].…”

“…Therefore, the impact energy (i.e., the kinetic energy) could be adjusted by changing the releasing angle of the pendulum arm. In the drop test, bruises could be generated by dropping the fruit to a contact surface [13], [23], [29]- [32] or by releasing a small steel ball to the fruit from a specific height [26], [33]- [36]. Because the impact energy computed as the potential energy that depends on the weight of the dropped object, a consistent impact level could be achieved for weight-varying apples by dropping a specific steel ball to the apples.…”