Quantitative and qualitative loss of tomato fruits during mechanized harvest

Abstract

The use of mechanization in the harvesting of industrial tomatoes provides greater yield and speed of this stage. However, mechanical intervention in this process may alter the physiology of harvested fruits. Therefore, the objective of this study was to measure the quantitative losses of tomato fruits and to verify the physico-chemical behavior of fruits harvested based on physicochemical analysis in harvesters with different hours of use. Three self-propelled harvesters of the same brand and model with different working hours were used. Manually selected or undamaged fruits were harvested; afterwards, mechanized harvesting was carried out. Firmness, titratable acidity, soluble solids content (°Brix), pH, weight loss and fruit status classification proposed by the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Food Supply of 2002 were evaluated. Quantitative losses were divided into: losses on vines, losses on soil and total losses. It was found that the number of hours worked by the harvester did not affect the quantitative losses. The amount of overall damage in a certain amount of fruit is greater when the harvester has a greater number of hours worked. Mechanized harvesting affected the physical attributes of the fruits, such as firmness and percentage of weight loss.

Organic fertilizer application combined with seed inoculation using rhizobacteria on tomato yield and quality

“…The higher the fruit firmness, the lower the losses caused during harvesting and transportation to the industry (Luz et al, 2016). Machado et al (2018) The hybrid BRS Sena produces tomatoes with reasonable SS; however, Nascimento et al (2013) reported that SSC in fruits may be a genetic characteristic of the cultivar, but can be affected by temperature, irrigation, and fertilizer application (Branches et al 2013),…”

“…The soil used was classified as a Typic Hapludox (Latossolo Vermelho Eutrofico tipico;Santos et al, 2018) of mean texture. Soil samples of the 0-20 cm layer were collected for analysis, which presented the following characteristics: pH in water = 6.6; organic matter = 1.7 dag kg -1 (colorimetry); P = 5.6 mg dm -3 (Mehlich-1); K = 189 mg dm -3 (Mehlich-1); Ca = 3.5 cmol c dm -3 (KCl 1mol L -1 ); Mg = 1.0 cmol c dm -3 (KCl 1mol L -1 ); Al = 0.0 cmol c dm -3 (KCl 1mol L -1 ); H+Al = 1.5 cmol c dm -3 (pH SMP); base saturation = 77%; aluminum saturation = 0%; P rem = 42.7 mg L -1 (equilibrium solution P); sand = 66 dag kg -1 ; silt = 9 dag kg -1 ; and clay = dag kg -1 .…”

Quality improvement of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) ‘Optima’ with amino acid-enriched leaf fertilizer

“…The hardness value of 'Optima' tomatoes decreased in all treatments during storage. According to Machado et al (2018), a high level of physical damage causes the hardness value of the fruit to decrease or the fruit to become softer and has a high percentage of fruit weight loss. Additionally, physical damage increases the rate of respiration, ethylene production, and biochemical reactions cause changes in color, texture, and quality of the chemical content in the fruit.…”

Effect of Maturity Level and Fruit Size on Mechanical Properties of Tomato Fruit (Solanum lycopersicum)

“…Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is a very sensitive food commodity for harvesting, transportation and processing [6]. Tomatoes are a climacteric product which means ripening may occurs after detached from the plant.…”