Table 7.
Firmness (rating scale) of tomato varieties stored under ambient conditions
| Tomato varieties | Storage period (days) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 16 | 20 | 24 | 28 | 32 | |
| Processing | |||||||||
| Roma VF | 6.0 | 5.9 | 5.8abc | 5.6a | 5.5b | 4.0a | 3.0b | 2.0c | 1.0 |
| Melkasalsa | 6.0 | 6.0 | 5.9a | 5.8a | 5.7a | 4.1a | 3.1a | 2.3a | 1.0 |
| Melkashola | 6.0 | 6.0 | 5.8ab | 5.7a | 5.5b | 4.1a | 3.0b | 2.1b | 1.0 |
| Fresh market | |||||||||
| Metadel | 6.0 | 5.8 | 5.4d | 5.1c | 4.8f | 3.1d | 2.2h | 1.1g | 1.0 |
| Eshete | 6.0 | 5.8 | 5.4d | 5.2c | 4.9e | 3.1d | 2.4g | 1.2f | 1.0 |
| Marglobe Improved | 6.0 | 5.9 | 5.7abcd | 5.4b | 5.1c | 3.8b | 2.9d | 1.7d | 1.0 |
| Fetane | 6.0 | 5.9 | 5.7abcd | 5.4b | 5.1c | 3.8b | 2.9c | 1.7d | 1.0 |
| Hienz 1350 | 6.0 | 5.9 | 5.5bcd | 5.3bc | 5.1cd | 3.2d | 2.6e | 1.5e | 1.0 |
| Bishola | 6.0 | 5.9 | 5.5cd | 5.2bc | 5.0ed | 3.4c | 2.4f | 1.2f | 1.0 |
| Significance | Ns | Ns | *** | *** | *** | *** | *** | *** | Ns |
| SE ± | 0.02 | 0.08 | 0.09 | 0.06 | 0.038 | 0.048 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.01 |
| CV (%) | 0.51 | 2.38 | 2.83 | 1.91 | 1.257 | 2.315 | 1.07 | 1.59 | 2.14 |
(n = 3)
Means within the same column followed by a common letter are not significantly different at P ≤ 0.05. ns, indicate non significant difference. ***indicate significance difference at P ≤ 0.001. Rating scale: 1, very soft; 2, soft; 3, slightly soft, 4, moderately firm; 5, firm; 6, very firm.