Impacts of Rootstocks on the Quality Attributes of Tomato Fruit (Solanum lycopersicum) During Cold Storage

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to assess the effects of rootstocks ([Solanum lycopersicum] cvs. “Kudret” [KD], “Hamarat” [HD], “Pençe” [PD]) on fruit quality traits and phytochemical components of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum cv. “Depar F1”) during cold storage. Tomato fruit were stored at 8° ± 0.5°C and 90% ± 5% RH for 21 days. Weight loss, respiration rate, soluble solids, titratable acidity, vitamin C, and bioactive compounds (total phenolics, total flavonoids, and antioxidant activity) were determined. At the end of storage, the highest weight loss (%0.18) was determined in tomato fruit of PD combination. On the 7th day, significantly lower respiration rate (4.78 mL CO2 kg−1 h−1) was measured in the fruit of the PD combination compared with the KD and HD combinations. The highest juice pH was obtained from the KD combination on the 14th day (5.0), titratable acidity was obtained from the KD combination on the 21st day, soluble solids content was obtained from the HD combination on the 21st day (%4.40) and the highest vitamin C values were obtained from the tomato fruit harvested from the HD combination on the 14th day (22.9 mg 100 g−1). Bioactive compounds decreased in tomato fruit grafted with three different rootstocks on the 21st day compared to the harvest period. In terms of weight loss, the “Kudret” rootstock with the least loss (% 0.06) came to the fore. “Pençe” rootstock stood out in terms of total flavonoid content, “Hamarat” and “Kudret” rootstocks stood out with high antioxidant capacity (DPPH) and “Hamarat” rootstock stood out with high total antioxidant power (FRAP) contents (2.61, 11.94 mmol TE kg−1, respectively).