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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fort Pierce, Florida » U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory » Citrus and Other Subtropical Products Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #304400
Title: Suppression of volatile production in tomato fruit exposed to chilling temperature and alleviation of chilling injury by a pre-chilling heat treatment

Author
item WANG, LIBIN - Nanjing Agricultural University
item Baldwin, Elizabeth - Liz
item Zhao, Wei
item Plotto, Anne
item SUN, XIUXIU - Wayne State University
item WANG, ZHE - Jilin University
item BRECHT, JEFFREY - University Of Florida
item Bai, Jinhe

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/1/2014
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Chilling exposure of tomatoes to 5°C for longer than 6-8 days can cause surface pitting, irregular (blotchy) color development and other symptoms of chilling injury (CI). The objectives for this study were to investigate whether a 4-day exposure of tomato fruit to chilling at the mature green stage of development would impact flavor quality after ripening, and if a pre-chilling heat treatment could alleviate the internal CI. Mature green ‘FL 47’ tomatoes were gassed with ethylene and then divided into the following four treatments: 1) pre-treated with 52°C hot water for 5 min and then exposed to 5°C for 4 days before being transferred to 20°C, or 2) placed directly at 20°C after heat treatment, without chilling, and 3) exposed to 5°C for 4 days without prior heat treatment then transferred to 20°C, or 4) non treated control. All samples were held at 20°C until ripened. Fruit were analyzed at the red-ripe stage for volatile components and submitted to a sensory panel for aroma evaluation. Results showed that chilling treatment generally suppressed production of aldehyde, alcohol, ketone, ester, sulfur, and terpene volatile compounds, including the following abundant and/or important volatiles: 2-methylbutanal, hexanal, benzaldehyde, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, ß-ionone, hexanol, and 2-isobutylthiazole. Heat treatment alone did not affect most volatile levels after ripening. Heat treatment prior to chilling exposure alleviated the reduction of the volatile compounds caused by chilling exposure, which agreed with the sensory panel results in that panelists preferred “heating + chilling” treated fruit over fruit that were chilled only.