Search Results (241)

Cherry tomato is a notable dietary source of metabolites associated with antioxidant functions. However, how ripening reshapes primary, specialized, and volatile metabolites remains incompletely resolved. Green-ripe and red-ripe fruits were comparatively analyzed using targeted HPLC assays for quality indices and vitamins, UPLC–MS/MS for non-volatile metabolites, and HS-SPME–GC–MS for volatiles. Ripening was accompanied by a pronounced accumulation of lycopene and an increase in soluble solids, reflecting a shift of sugars toward glucose and fructose while sucrose remained low. Organic acids declined overall, with citric acid remaining predominant. The free-amino-acid pool expanded, with redistribution from GABA toward glutamate and aspartate. Vitamins exhibited stage-dependent patterns; antioxidant-related vitamins (A, E, and C) were higher at the red-ripe stage, indicating a compositional enhancement relevant to nutritional quality. Non-volatile metabolomics revealed 618 differentially accumulated metabolites, with phenolic acids, flavonoids, alkaloids, amino acids, and lipids as major classes. Phenolic acids and flavonols, dominated by hydroxycinnamoyl-quinic acids and quercetin/kaempferol glycosides, accumulated at the red-ripe stage, whereas steroidal glycoalkaloids decreased, suggesting conversion away from bitter or anti-nutritional constituents. GC–MS profiling identified 788 volatiles, with esters, terpenoids, and ketones contributing more than half of the volatilome. Ripening favored fruity–floral odorants such as β-ionone and (5Z)-octa-1,5-dien-3-one, while reducing green-leaf aldehydes. These stage-specific shifts in metabolite composition jointly define the sensory and nutritional maturation of cherry tomato. The identified metabolite markers provide a foundation for evaluating fruit maturity and guiding breeding toward improved quality attributes. Full article

Accurate and nondestructive monitoring of tomato growth is essential for large-scale greenhouse production; however, it remains challenging for small-fruited cultivars such as cherry tomatoes. Traditional 2D image analysis often fails to capture precise morphological traits, limiting its usefulness in growth modeling and yield estimation. This study proposes an automated phenotyping framework that integrates deep learning-based instance segmentation with high-resolution 3D point cloud reconstruction and ellipsoid fitting to estimate fruit size and ripeness from daily video recordings. These techniques enable accurate camera pose estimation and dense geometric reconstruction (via SfM and MVS), while Nerfacto enhances surface continuity and photorealistic fidelity, resulting in highly precise and visually consistent 3D representations. The reconstructed models are followed by CIELAB color analysis and logistic curve fitting to characterize the growth dynamics. When applied to real greenhouse conditions, the method achieved an average size estimation error of 8.01% compared to manual caliper measurements. During summer, the maximum growth rate (g_max) of size and ripeness were 24.14%, and 95.24% higher than in winter, respectively. Seasonal analysis revealed that winter-grown tomatoes matured approximately 10 days later than summer-grown fruits, highlighting environmental influences on phenological development. By enabling precise, noninvasive tracking of size and ripeness progression, this approach is a novel tool for smart and sustainable agriculture. Full article

In nature, some tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) shapes appear to be ellipsoidal. This study aims to fit the ellipsoid tomato profile using explicit Preston’s equation (EPE), and calculate its volume (V_pred) and surface area (S) based on the estimated EPE’s parameters. This method offers low-cost and non-destructive advantages compared to three-dimensional (3D) scanning. A total of 917 tomatoes from three cultivars were photographed, and the two-dimensional (2D) boundary coordinates of each fruit profile were digitized and then fitted using EPE. The results demonstrated that the EPE effectively fitted the tomato 2D-profile, with truss tomato ranking highest, followed by cherry, and then Qianxi. A significant relationship was found between V_pred and observed volume (V_obs) at the cultivar level. The 95% confidence intervals for the slopes for cherry tomatoes include 1.0, and for Qianxi were close to 1.0, which confirmed that these two cultivars were solids of revolution. Additionally, for cherry and Qianxi tomato, S is proportional to the V_obs (i.e., S∝V_obs^0.62~0.63), V_pred is proportional to (LW²)^0.73~0.74, and S is proportional to (LW²)^0.49 (L is the length and W is the maximum width). For any isometrically scaling solid of revolution, the theoretical exponent of surface area to volume is exactly 2/3. The observed exponent of 0.62–0.63 is a biological reality, which reveals that evolution has shaped organisms not for geometric similarity, but for functional optimization. This study can be extended to a geometry study on other egg-shaped fruits and provides a potentially simple method for calculating volume and surface area based on photographed 2D fruit profiles. Full article

The rise in diabetes and obesity worldwide has created an urgent demand for low-sugar, nutrient-dense foods with appealing flavors. This study established an endogenous and “rapid validation–stable production” platform to enhance the flavor of edible tomato fruits by integrating two key technologies in the MicroTom cherry tomato: (1) TRV viral vector-mediated transient expression and (2) Agrobacterium-mediated stable genetic transformation. We employed the human sweet taste receptor TAS1R2 for in vitro functional validation and objectively demonstrated that tomato-derived recombinant thaumatin II exhibits receptor-binding activity equivalent to that of the native protein, overcoming the limitations of traditional sensory evaluation. Non-targeted metabolomic analysis (covering 1236 metabolites) confirmed that thaumatin II expression did not significantly alter the profiles of sugars, organic acids, or key flavor compounds in tomato fruits. This provides safety data supporting the development of “ready-to-eat sugar-substitute fruits.” Our strategy offers a solution and theoretical technical support for the development of low-sugar, high-nutrient foods. Full article

Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) is a protein- and antioxidant-rich microalga, but its use in beverages is limited by sensory acceptance. Four juices (apple, sour cherry, tomato, and celery) were initially tested with added blue and green spirulina (0.8% and 1.6% w/w). Based on preliminary acceptability scores, only sour cherry and tomato juices were selected for further analyses. Blue spirulina enrichment increased protein (from 0.80 to 1.36 g/100 g in sour cherry; 0.89 to 1.52 g/100 g in tomato), fat (0.05 to 0.21 g/100 g; 0.09 to 0.25 g/100 g), and energy (259 to 279 kJ/100 g; 140 to 170 kJ/100 g). Antioxidant activity improved significantly, with DPPH IC₅₀ reduced from 260 to 135 mg/mL (sour cherry) and from 268 to 171 mg/mL (tomato). Colour analysis confirmed a shift from red to blue hues (a* from 15.2 to 3.7 in sour cherry). Data were statistically processed using ANOVA followed by Tukey’s HSD test, while sensory data were additionally evaluated by PCA and GPA to identify product-specific differences. These results confirm that spirulina-enriched sour cherry and tomato juices are nutritionally enhanced functional beverages, though sensory off-notes remain a challenge for consumer acceptance. Full article

Foodborne illness outbreaks from fresh produce underscore the urgent demand for sanitizing strategies that ensure safety while minimizing harmful by-products from high-dose chemical disinfectants such as sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl). Low-concentration combinations of organic acids and washing sanitizers were systematically evaluated to identify synergistic antibacterial effects, and citric acid (CA) was found to markedly potentiate the activity of NaOCl against Salmonella Typhimurium through a sequential assault on the cell envelope. A low-dose combination of sub-inhibitory concentrations (1/2 MIC of CA and 1/4 MIC of NaOCl) exhibited robust synergy, achieving a >6 log CFU/cm² reduction in the pathogen on a cherry tomato model within 3 min. Moreover, this synergistic entry leads to profound disruption of membrane integrity, resulting in leakage of nucleic acids and proteins, extensive oxidative damage, hyperpolarization, and cell lysis, as confirmed by electron and confocal microscopy together with physicochemical assays. Mechanistic investigation revealed that oxidative damage from NaOCl amplified CA-induced membrane acidification and permeability, facilitating deeper sanitizer penetration and accelerating envelope destruction. Collectively, these findings uncover a membrane-targeted synergistic mechanism, providing a solid scientific basis for the development of novel, low-residue, and high-efficacy food safety interventions. Full article

Edible composite coatings represent an alternative approach to reducing postharvest losses and extending the shelf life of perishable fruits. This study developed a nano-biopolymer coating by integrating pullulan (PUL), nano-silica (Nano-SiO₂), and tea polyphenols (TP) to retard deterioration in cherry tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme). Optimized through response surface methodology (0.06% Nano-SiO₂, 0.1% TP, 1.8% PUL, 0.77% glycerol), the resulting Nano-SiO₂/PUL/TP composite film showed improved barrier properties (water vapor permeability, WVP: 0.2063 g·mm·m⁻²·h⁻¹·kPa⁻¹) and increased mechanical strength (tensile strength, TS: 2.62 MPa; elongation at break, EB: 67.67%), which may be attributed to a homogeneous microstructure stabilized via intermolecular hydrogen bonding. The composite coating exhibited significant (p < 0.05) antioxidant activity (59.04% DPPH·scavenging) compared to the PUL film (1.17%) and showed efficacy against S. aureus. When applied to cherry tomatoes stored at 4 °C for 15 days, the coating contributed to improved postharvest quality by reducing weight loss (−27.6%) and decay incidence (−32.3%), delaying firmness loss (2.40 vs. 0.54 N in uncoated group, CK), suppressing respiration rate (−38.8%), and enhancing the retention of total acidity (+9.7%), vitamin C (+49.6%), and total soluble solids (+48.6%) compared to the CK (p < 0.05). Principal component analysis supported sensory evaluation results, indicating the coating helped maintain sensory quality (scores > 6.0) and commercial value while extending shelf life from 9 to 15 days. These results suggest that the Nano-SiO₂/TP/PUL composite coating may serve as a preservative for extending the shelf-life of cherry tomatoes by effectively reducing decay and mitigating quality degradation. Full article

In arid countries like Oman, fan–pad cooling systems are commonly used in greenhouse cultivation. However, in such harsh environmental conditions, a fan–pad cooling system can be inefficient, result in high water and energy consumption, and may cause plant and soil pathogens issues. To address these challenges, this study evaluated the technical performance of a greenhouse designed with the new concept of an on-grid, solar-powered, and fan-chiller tube bank (FCTB) cooling system, focusing on water use efficiency (WUE) and energy use efficiency (EUE) following pot-grown okra. In addition, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and financial aspects were evaluated through cost–benefit and cash flow analyses. This research was conducted with a Quonset side-walled single-span greenhouse equipped with a solar-powered FCTB cooling system and automatic scheduled irrigation system. Water and electricity consumption was recorded, and surplus energy supplied to the electricity grid was estimated. The greenhouse efficiencies were evaluated by computing the EUE, total WUE, cooling water use efficiency (CWUE), and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE). The solar-powered FCTB greenhouse enhanced EUE, achieving a value of 1.16 and a positive net energy of 163.87 MJ·m⁻². The WUE, CWUE, and IWUE were 0.91 kg·m⁻³, 1.63 kg·m⁻³, and 2.07 kg·m⁻³, respectively. The economic assessment showed that okra cultivation with a solar-powered FCTB cooling system was economically unfeasible, as indicated by a benefit–cost ratio of 0.88. However, cucumber (IRR 46%, NPV 2.13 × 10⁴ USD) and cherry tomatoes (IRR 38%, NPV 1.98 × 10⁴ USD) demonstrated economic feasibility as supported by positive net present value (NPV) and the internal rate of return (IRR) values. Furthermore, incorporating solar energy with the FCTB cooling system enhanced the greenhouse’s sustainability, efficiencies, and profitability. This study recommends further research with this system for Oman’s seasonal effect with high-value crops and optimizing the size of the solar panel system to see how the energy and other efficiency components will vary. Full article

Crop productivity can be affected by biotic and abiotic stressors, and plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) from the genera Bacillus and Burkholderia have the potential to maintain fruit yield and quality, as these bacteria can promote plant growth by solubilizing nutrients, fixing atmospheric nitrogen, producing phytohormones, and exhibiting antagonistic activity against pathogens. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of inoculating plants with Bacillus subtilis and Burkholderia seminalis on their morphological characteristics, fruit technological attributes and yield of common cherry tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.) subjected to induced water deficit. The study was arranged on a split-plot randomized block design, with four water replacement levels (40%, 60%, 80% and 100% of crop evapotranspiration, ETc) and three inoculation treatments (Bacillus subtilis ATCC 23858, Burkholderia seminalis TC3.4.2R3 and non-inoculation). Data were subjected to analysis of variance using the F-test and compared using Tukey’s test (p < 0.05) and multivariate statistics from principal component analysis. Inoculation with Burkholderia seminalis increased the plant fresh and dry shoot and root mass, as well as root volume. Inoculation with Bacillus subtilis increased carotenoid and chlorophyll b contents. Both inoculations enhanced leaf water content in plants experiencing severe water deficit (40% of ETc). The use of these strains as PGPB increased the fruit soluble solids content. Higher productivity in inoculated plants was achieved through a greater number of fruits per cluster, despite the individual fruits being lighter. Treatments with higher water replacement levels resulted in greater yield. Inoculations showed biotechnological potential in mitigating water deficit in cherry tomatoes. Full article

This study developed a tannic acid-modified sodium caseinate (SC-TA) stabilized Pickering emulsion containing bergamot essential oil (BEO) and carboxymethyl tara gum for cherry tomato preservation. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and circular dichroism (CD) analysis confirmed successful SC-TA conjugation and improved emulsion stability. The emulsion significantly lowered the water vapor permeability (WVP) of the film, enhanced its tensile strength and elongation, and exhibited antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus (the inhibition zones of the coating with Pickering emulsion were 10.67 mm larger and 6.67 mm larger than those without Pickering emulsion, respectively, against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus), as well as antioxidant capabilities (the coating with Pickering emulsion showed a 128.6% increase in DPPH scavenging rate and a 341.8% increase in ABTS scavenging rate compared to the coating without Pickering emulsion). Applied to cherry tomatoes, it effectively reduced quality deterioration by minimizing weight/firmness loss, preserving nutrients (vitamin C, lycopene), and decreasing oxidative damage. These comprehensive effects confirm that the BEO-stabilized Pickering emulsion coating represents a promising technology for postharvest management, capable of extending fruit shelf life while preserving nutritional quality. Full article

Accurate detection of cherry tomato clusters and their ripeness stages is critical for the development of intelligent harvesting systems in modern agriculture. In response to the challenges posed by occlusion, overlapping clusters, and subtle ripeness variations under complex greenhouse environments, an improved YOLO11-based deep convolutional neural network detection model, called AFBF-YOLO, is proposed in this paper. First, a dataset comprising 486 RGB images and over 150,000 annotated instances was constructed and augmented, covering four ripeness stages and fruit clusters. Then, based on YOLO11, the ACmix attention mechanism was incorporated to strengthen feature representation under occluded and cluttered conditions. Additionally, a novel neck structure, FreqFusion-BiFPN, was designed to improve multi-scale feature fusion through frequency-aware filtering. Finally, a refined loss function, Inner-Focaler-IoU, was applied to enhance bounding box localization by emphasizing inner-region overlap and focusing on difficult samples. Experimental results show that AFBF-YOLO achieves a precision of 81.2%, a recall of 81.3%, and an mAP@0.5 of 85.6%, outperforming multiple mainstream YOLO series. High accuracy across ripeness stages and low computational complexity indicate it excels in simultaneous detection of cherry tomato fruit bunches and fruit maturity, supporting automated maturity assessment and robotic harvesting in precision agriculture. Full article

Ascorbic acid is a non-enzymatic antioxidant compound essential for plant defense under salt stress conditions. It can induce salt stress tolerance and enable the use of saline water in hydroponic cultivation with substrates. This study evaluated the effect of foliar application of ascorbic acid on the yield and postharvest quality of ‘Laranja’ cherry tomatoes grown in saline nutrient solutions under a substrate-based hydroponic system. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse in Campina Grande, Paraíba, Brazil, in a randomized block design in a 5 × 5 factorial arrangement, corresponding to five levels of electrical conductivity of the saline nutrient solution—SNS (2.1—Control, 2.8, 3.5, 4.2, and 4.9 dS m⁻¹) and five concentrations of ascorbic acid—AA (0, 150, 300, 450, and 600 mg L⁻¹), with four replications. Salinity above 2.1 dS m⁻¹ reduced yield components and phenolic compound content. However, the saline nutrient solution of 4.9 dS m⁻¹ combined with 600 mg L⁻¹ foliar application of AA increased fruit firmness, soluble solids, and titratable acidity. Additionally, SNS of 4.9 dS m⁻¹ enhanced the levels of vitamin C, flavonoids, and anthocyanins. While AA improved postharvest quality of cherry tomatoes, it did not increase production under salt stress. Foliar application is thus a promising approach for enhancing fruit quality of cherry tomatoes grown in hydroponic systems using saline water, supporting sustainable production in semiarid regions. Full article

For fruit harvesting robots, rapid and accurate detection of fruits and picking points is one of the main challenges for their practical deployment. Several fruits typically grow in clusters or bunches, such as grapes, cherry tomatoes, and blueberries. For such clustered fruits, it is desired for them to be picked by bunches instead of individually. This study proposes utilizing a low-cost off-the-shelf RGB-D sensor mounted on the end effector and a lightweight improved YOLOv8-Pose neural network to detect cherry tomato bunches and picking points for robotic harvesting. The problem of occlusion and overlap is alleviated by merging RGB and depth images from the RGB-D sensor. To enhance detection robustness in complex backgrounds and reduce the complexity of the model, the Starblock module from StarNet and the coordinate attention mechanism are incorporated into the YOLOv8-Pose network, termed StarBL-YOLO, to improve the efficiency of feature extraction and reinforce spatial information. Additionally, we replaced the original OKS loss function with the L1 loss function for keypoint loss calculation, which improves the accuracy in picking points localization. The proposed method has been evaluated on a dataset with 843 cherry tomato RGB-D image pairs acquired by a harvesting robot at a commercial greenhouse farm. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed StarBL-YOLO model achieves a 12% reduction in model parameters compared to the original YOLOv8-Pose while improving detection accuracy for cherry tomato bunches and picking points. Specifically, the model shows significant improvements across all metrics: for computational efficiency, model size (−11.60%) and GFLOPs (−7.23%); for pickable bunch detection, mAP50 (+4.4%) and mAP50-95 (+4.7%); for non-pickable bunch detection, mAP50 (+8.0%) and mAP50-95 (+6.2%); and for picking point detection, mAP50 (+4.3%), mAP50-95 (+4.6%), and RMSE (−23.98%). These results validate that StarBL-YOLO substantially enhances detection accuracy for cherry tomato bunches and picking points while improving computational efficiency, which is valuable for resource-constrained edge-computing deployment for harvesting robots. Full article

To improve the postharvest preservation of cherry tomatoes and combat pathogenic, both bacterial and fungal contamination (particularly Alternaria alternata), a novel biodegradable coating was developed based on a water-in-water (W/W) Pickering emulsion system. The emulsion was stabilized by L. plantarum (Lactobacillus plantarum), with maltodextrin (MD) as the dispersed phase and hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) as the continuous phase. Characterization of emulsions at varying concentrations revealed that the optimized W/W-PL^8 film exhibited superior stability, smooth morphology, and low water vapor permeability (WVP = 220.437 g/(m²·24 h)), making it a promising candidate for fruit and vegetable preservation. Furthermore, the coating demonstrated strong antioxidant activity, with scavenging rates of 58.99% (ABTS) and 94.23% (DPPH), along with potent antimicrobial effects, showing inhibition rates of 12.8% against Escherichia coli and 23.7% against Staphylococcus aureus. Applied to cherry tomatoes, the W/W-PL^8 coating significantly reduced respiration rates, minimized decay incidence, and maintained nutritional quality during storage. Remarkably, the coating successfully controlled Alternaria alternata contamination, enhancing the storage duration of cherry tomatoes. These findings highlight the potential of W/W-PL^8 as an eco-friendly and functional packaging material for fresh produce preservation. Full article

Indoor horticulture requires a substantial quantity of electricity to meet crops extended photoperiodic requirements for optimal photosynthetic rate. Simultaneously, global electricity costs have grown dramatically in recent years, endangering the sustainability and profitability of indoor vertical farms and/or modern greenhouses that use artificial lighting systems to accelerate crop development and growth. This study investigates the growth rate and physiological development of cherry tomato plants cultivated in a pilot indoor vertical farm at the Agricultural University of Athens’ Laboratory of Farm Structures (AUA) under continuous and disruptive lighting. The leaf physiological traits from multiple photoperiodic stress treatments were analyzed and utilized to estimate the plant’s tolerance rate under varied illumination conditions. Four different photoperiodic treatments were examined and compared, firstly plants grew under 14 h of continuous light (C-14L10D/control), secondly plants grew under a normalized photoperiod of 14 h with intermittent light intervals of 10 min of light followed by 50 min of dark (NI-14L10D/stress), the third treatment where plants grew under 14 h of a load-shifted energy demand response intermittent lighting schedule (LSI-14L10D/stress) and finally plants grew under 13 h photoperiod following of a load-shifted energy demand response intermittent lighting schedule (LSI-13L11D/stress). Plants were subjected also under two different light spectra for all the treatments, specifically WHITE and Blue/Red/Far-red light composition. The aim was to develop flexible, energy-efficient lighting protocols that maintain crop productivity while reducing electricity consumption in indoor settings. Results indicated that short periods of disruptive light did not negatively impact physiological responses, and plants exhibited tolerance to abiotic stress induced by intermittent lighting. Post-harvest data indicated that intermittent lighting regimes maintained or enhanced growth compared to continuous lighting, with spectral composition further influencing productivity. Plants under LSI-14L10D and B/R/FR spectra produced up to 93 g fresh fruit per plant and 30.4 g dry mass, while consuming up to 16 kWh less energy than continuous lighting—highlighting the potential of flexible lighting strategies for improved energy-use efficiency. Full article