- CHILLING INJURY IN TOMATO FRUIT 231
V.CONCLUDING REMARKS
Acknowledgment
Literature Cited
I. INTRODUCTION
Chilling injury (CI) is defined as a physiological dysfunction or abnor-
mality in fruits, particularly those of tropical and subtropical origin,
that occurs when they are exposed to low, non-freezing temperature
(≤ 13 ◦C) for a period of time (Saltveit and Morris 1990). Although tem-
perate fruits, in general, can cope with low temperature better than
those of tropical or subtropical origin, some are also injured if exposed
to low temperature for an extended period (Bramlage and Meir 1990).
Chilling injury may occur at different stages in the supply chain includ-
ing in transit or market distribution, in retail or home refrigerators, even
in the field during growth and development (Saltveit and Morris 1990).
Lowering temperature is the most effective means of minimizing
metabolism to maintain quality and extends storage life of many fruits
(Saltveit and Morris 1990) and allows them to survive long distance
transport (Malacrida et al. 2006). Unfortunately, low-temperature stor-
age can be more detrimental than beneficial for some fruits, particularly
those of tropical or subtropical origin (Wang 1990). Equally, if these
chilling-sensitive products are not refrigerated, they tend to deteriorate
rapidly and have a short storage life. This dilemma results in substan-
tial postharvest losses for many horticultural crops (Hardenburg et al.
1986). Additionally, globalization means products are being exported
for long distance shipping and stored for long periods so that the
potential for chilling-induced losses is much greater than for air-freight
products stored for shorter periods. The increasing costs of air-freight
combined with the limited possibilities for its expansion mean that for
many fresh products, a switch to sea-freight is the only possibility for
increasing exports.
Tomato is one of the most popular and economically important
fruit crops (Madhavi and Salunkhe 1998). Present world production of
fresh tomatoes is about 163 million tonnes produced from 4.8 million
hectares with a world trade value of around US$ 6 billion (FAO 2014).
Commercially, tomato fruit are harvested at the mature-green stage (i.e.,
physiologically mature, but pre-ripe) of development and are handled
at low temperatures to facilitate shipping and marketing (Chomchalow
et al. 2002). However, long-term low temperature storage of mature-
green tomato fruit is currently risky because of the likely development