Quality changes of tomato during fruit development and climacteric ripening

In this study the quality changes of tomato cv. Savior grown under two different conditions (under cover and open field) during fruit development and ripening was monitored. The consumer preference for tomato fruit at different ripening stages was also evaluated. Experimental results showed that there was a significant difference in changes of fruit mass, firmness, color and total acidity between fruit grown under the different conditions. The difference in fruit soluble solids content between growing conditions was not as definitive as for the other quality attributes. Analysis of consumer preference indicated that red ripe maturity stage fruit was preferred, followed by pink fruit. Consumer preference decreased as the tomato fruit became less mature. The sensory evaluation findings were correlated with the tomato wholesale price. Red-ripe fruit was the most highly valued, with a normalized price of 0.99 kg(-1) while the normalized price for green fruit had zero value.