Biochemical Changes in Calcium Chloride Treated Hisar Arun (Local) and Kashi Vishesh (Hybrid) Cultivars of Tomato Fruit

Saumya Mishra*, Veeru Prakash

Department of Biochemistry and Biochemical Engineering, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences, Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Corresponding Author E-mail: msaumya.0507@gmail.com

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CARJ.6.3.19

Abstract:

Tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum) although, second largest crop produced across the world, is a highly perishable commodity. Consequently, pre and postharvest treatments are critical in order to enhance the shelf-life and nutrition. Therefore, two popular Indian tomato cultivars namely Hisar Arun and Kashi Vishesh in their Mature Green, Breaker and Mature Red stages were treated with 1%, 2% and 5% Calcium chloride in order to increase their shelf life and stored at 5°C, 10°C and 15°C temperatures. The changes in non-enzymatic antioxidants namely ascorbic acid, Lycopene, Carotenoid, and Total Phenol were recorded up to 21 days of storage. Our investigation revealed a linear increase in the ascorbic acid at 5°C when treated with 5% CaCl₂ (~40%) while Lycopene (45%) and carotenoids (25%) have shown comparative moderate increment at 10°C storage when treated with 1% CaCl₂. Our analysis suggests that low (1%) concentration of CaCl₂ is the most effective in controlling the increase of investigated non-enzymatic antioxidants in both cultivars. Moreover, hybrid cultivar tomatoes exhibited delayed deterioration compared with local type and can be recommended for long-time storage.

Keywords:

Ascorbic Acid; Calcium Chloride; Carotenoids; Lycopene; Total Phenols

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