Effect of exogenous application of salicylic acid and oxalic acid on post harvest shelf-life of tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L.)

Abstarct: The effects of oxalic acid (OA) and salicylic acid (SA) application were studied on the ripening behavior and post harvest shelf-life of tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L.) fruits. Green mature fruits of twenty cultivars were treated with OA (2, 3 and 4 mM) and SA (0.5, 0.75 and 1 mM), separately at 20 °C for 15 min by dip method and double distilled as control. The most effective concentration for all cultivars was 3 mM OA and 0.75 mM SA, which prolonged the shelf life in comparison to control. It prolonged the shelf life by 4 days, while 0.75 mM SA prolonged the shelf life by 7 days with respect to control. Thus, SA has more potential than OA in regulation of tomato fruit ripening. Among 20 cultivars, the best results were found with Pusa Gaurav and Pusa Rohini on the basis of physical parameters such as maximum shelf life, lower weight loss percentage and ion leakage in comparison to control and other cultivars studied. © 2013 Indian Society for Plant Physiology.