Asessment of Locally Produced Materials on The Shelf Life And Fruit Quality of Two Tomatoes Varieties

ABSTRACT

The study was conducted in three phases. Phase one was to assess the postharvest management practices along the tomato value chain in the Fanteakwa District of Ghana. Semi–structured questionnaires were administered randomly to fifty tomato farmers and fifty tomato traders. The value chain of tomatoes as observed in this study, started from pre-harvesting stages and ended with the consumer. Harvesting was done manually and fruits were harvested by majority of farmers when fully ripened. Fruits were harvested mainly in the mornings by most farmers. The farmers also had some knowledge on the postharvest implication of the time of harvest of the produce. All farmers and traders in the study area practiced sorting of fruits into sizes before packaging. The packaging materials that were used included wooden boxes, plastic and cane baskets. Postharvest losses that were incurred started on the farm during harvesting to the point of consumption. The causes of losses were the lack of ready market, lack of storage technology, lack of storage facility, lack of transport for harvested produce, pests and diseases and lack of processing plants. The losses along the tomato postharvest value chain were due to mechanical, rotting (biological) and physiological factors. In all, postharvest management practices involved in the tomato value chain in the district were not adequate to prevent losses. Phase two was to assess the effect of different waxing materials on the quality attributes of tomato fruits. A 2 x 8 factorial experiment layout in complete randomized design with 16 treatment combinations and 3 replication was adopted. The materials that were used for experiment were two (2) varieties of tomatoes (Pectomech and Power Rano) and seven (7) waxing material (shea butter, cassava starch, beeswax, and a combination of shea butter + cassava starch, shea butter + beeswax, cassava starch + beeswax, shea butter + cassava starch + beeswax) and a control. Results from the experiment indicated that all waxing treatments delayed the on set of weight loss, firmness, pH, total soluble solids, and total titrable acidity. The results also suggested that edible wax vi coatings delayed the ripening process and colour change of tomato fruits during the storage period and extended the shelf life. However Beewax treatment and its combinations performed better than the other treatments. It was therefore recommended that locally produced wax such as Beewax, shea butter, cassava starch treatments and their combinations could be a good technology for preserving the quality and extending the shelf life of fresh tomato fruit as well as maintaining the physical and chemical properties. Phase three was to assess consumer acceptability of tomato fruits that have been treated with different waxing materials. Semistructured questionnaires were used to collect data on consumer acceptability of tomato fruits treated with different waxing materials at storage. Sensory analysis was carried out with ten panelists selected from the College of Agriculture and Consumer Science, university of Ghana. The panelists were asked to assess the visual quality of tomatoes that had been treated with different waxing materials. Coded samples per treatment were assessed by each of 10 panelists. A five-point Hedonic scale was used to score sensory attributes of waxed tomatoes. The locally produced waxes (Beewax, Shea butter, Cassava Starch and their combinations) improved some organoleptic and chemical properties such as attractiveness, firmness, smell and overall acceptability of waxed fruits. Generally, for stored tomatoes, consumers preferred waxed fruits to unwaxed fruits. Farmers and traders should be encouraged to use locally available wax materials to coat their produce to maintain the quality