Horticultural Reviews, Volume 44

5. CHILLING INJURY IN TOMATO FRUIT 261

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Temperature (°C)

Time (days)

Flavor loss Blotchy color Complete fail to ripen Excessive softening

Pitting/sunken patches Decay Ion leakage

Flavor loss

Blotchy color

Excessive

Complete failure to ripen

Ion leakage

Pitting/sunken

Fig. 5.1. Conceptual model for sensitivity range for different CI symptoms at a given
time–temperature regime (from several sources). Appearance of various symptoms
described in each study was plotted on a time–temperature axis. Each symptom was
grouped by identifying a line of the first time of appearance of a symptom at a tem-
perature. Potential sensitivity of each injury symptom induced by the storage condition
described by the time and temperature axis to chilling. Data were retrieved from Kader
et al. 1978; Hobson 1981; Cheng and Shewfelt 1988; Efiuvwevwere and Thorne 1988;
Jackman et al. 1990; Lurie and Klein 1991, 1992; Bergevin et al. 1993; Artes and Escriche ́
1994; Marangoni et al. 1995; Sabehat et al. 1995; Lurie and Sabehat 1997; Lurie et al. 1997;
McDonald et al. 1999; Ding et al. 2001, 2002; Chomchalow et al. 2002; Maul et al. 2000;
Saltveit 2002, 2005; Soto-Zamora et al. 2005; Malacrida et al. 2006; D ́ıazdeLeon-S ́ anchez ́
et al. 2009; Luengwilai and Beckles 2010; Vega-Garc ́ıa et al. 2010; Luengwilai et al. 2012;
Sanchez-Bel et al. 2012.

longer than others to develop, while some are intermediary, and some
are slow for the specific CI symptoms to become apparent.
Starting with the fastest-appearing problem, it would appear that any
temperature below 13◦C has an adverse effect on flavor even when
tomatoes are stored for as little as 2 d. Relatively, rapidly appearing
injury symptoms include blotchy red coloration and excessive soften-
ing. Blotchy red coloration can occur after a week at 7–8◦C or, alterna-
tively, only 3 d at 3◦C. Excessive softening can occur after 3 d at 2.5◦C
but only after 7–8 d at 10◦C.
Pitting or sunken patches followed by decay seems to have interme-
diary sensitivity. Pitting is not generally found until after 7–8 d at 2.5◦C,
11 d at 5◦C, and 28 d at 9◦C. Pitted tissue is often an ideal entry point for
microorganisms, especially fungal saprophytes. Although an increase