Environmental and Postharvest Temperature Stress Alters Tomato Fruit Chilling Sensitivity and Quality

1. Mikal E. Saltveit + Author Affiliations

1. Mann Laboratory, Department of Vegetable Crops, University of California, Davis 956 16

HortScience June 1991 vol. 26 no. 6 797

Abstract
Plant temperatures fluctuate in accord with seasons, weather patterns, time of day, and movement of clouds and wind. Physiological responses to these changes can alter the sensitivity of tissue to subsequent temperature stresses. Diurnal temperature changes affect plant sensitivity to low, non-freezing temperatures that cause chilling injury in plants indigenous to the tropics and subtropics. Similar changes in chilling sensitivity can be induced in the laboratory by conditioning tissue for 4 to 6 hr at various temperatures. Freshly harvested tomato fruit that were conditioned at 10C to 20C developed similar levels of chilling injury after holding at 2.X for 4 to 7 days. Chilling injury was more severe in fruit conditioned at 25% to 32C, while fruit conditioned at 34C to 37C were more chilling tolerant than fruit conditioned at 10C to 20C. The physiological basis of enhanced chilling sensitivity after conditioning at 25C to 32C is unknown, but the tolerance induced by conditioning at 34C to 37C appears related to the synthesis of heat-shock proteins. Since chilling injury is cumulative from the field to the consumer, and since it adversely effects quality factors like ripening, flavor, texture and disease susceptibility, the control of chilling injury is paramount to modern postharvest handling and marketing.