Effect of some agricultural treatments on fruits storage quality of two tomato hybrids cultivated in gypsum soil

Abstract

The research was conducted at horticulture laboratory. The fruits were stored in cold storages of Food and Dairy Department, College of Agriculture, Tikrit University, Iraq during the agricultural season 2010, to study the effect of treatments (calcium chloride 150 mg.l^-1 + urea 0.05% + calcium chloride and gamax extract cm³.l^-1 and biofertil EM1 4 ml.l^-1) on fruit storage characteristic of tomato hybrids Jinan and Hassan. The fruits were harvested when they reached a ripening stage and filled in corky boxes within 10 kg capacity and stored in cold storage on 4^oC for four weeks, then the laboratory measurements were done at three times (at fruits harvested, after two weeks of storage and after four weeks). The CRD was used with three replication for each treatment with 5 kg fruits and then the results were compared by using LSD test at the 5% probability level. The results showed that the biofertile and chloride and gamax treatment had less level of weight missing of fruit (16.89, 14.47 and 11.86 %) respectively, while the chloride, urea + chloride calcium had the highest fruits hardness at the end of storage. gamax treatments, calcium chloride, urea + calcium chloride, decreased the fruits respiration rate, whereas the urea and gamax reserved high vitamin contents, urea treatment + CaCl₂ reserved high content of juice lycopene. Hassan hybrid reserved the least weight loss up fruits 6.92% and highest acidity, while Jinan reserved the least respiration rate with 7.87 mg CO_{2 .} kg^-1.hr^-1. Fruits storage period affected the increasing weight loss and decreased the total acidity and fruits hardness and high fruit respiration rate at the storage end.