Fruit Quality of Two Tomato Cultivars at Different Stages of Harvest Ripeness

Two elite tomato cultivars from AVRDC, CLN1462A (also a commercial cultivar serving as control) and TLCV15 were grown in a large-scale variety trial under Laos conditions and evaluated for yield and quality attributes at harvest. Fruit production in TLCV15 was very profuse, resulting in yields of about three-fold higher than CLN1462A. A large-fruited cultivar, CLN1462A fruit was flat-shaped with length less than the width (<1 length to width ratio) and weighed about twice that of oblong-shaped TLCV15 fruit (>1 length to width ratio). Physicochemical attributes of fruits harvested at different ripeness stages (breaker, turning, pink, light red and red stage) differed between the two cultivars. Firmness of breaker fruit of the two cultivars was comparable but firmness loss with advancing ripeness stage was greater in CLN1462A than TLCV15. TLCV15 had higher soluble solids content (SSC), lower titratable acidity as percent citric acid, and consequently, higher SSC: acid ratio than CLN1462A. SSC did not differ much with harvest ripeness stage while acid content generally decreased with advancing ripeness stage. Fruit pH did not relate well with acid content. pH was higher in CLN1462A than TLCV15 fruit. Both cultivars could cater to specific market requirements.