Search Results (167)

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

The increasing demand for fresh fruits and vegetables has been accompanied by a rise in foodborne illness outbreaks linked to fresh produce. Traditional antimicrobial washing treatments, such as chlorine and peroxyacetic acid, have limitations in efficacy and pose environmental and worker health concerns. This study evaluated the effectiveness of organic acids (citric, malic, and lactic acid) and power ultrasound, individually and in combination, for the reduction in Salmonella enterica and Listeria monocytogenes on four fresh produce types: romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomato, and strawberry. Produce samples were inoculated with bacterial cocktails at 8–9 log CFU/unit and treated with organic acids at 2 or 5% for 2 or 5 min, with or without power ultrasound (40 kHz). Results showed that pathogen reductions varied based on the produce matrix with smoother surfaces such as tomato, exhibiting greater reductions than rougher surfaces (e.g., romaine lettuce and strawberry). Lactic and malic acids were the most effective treatments, with 5% lactic acid achieving a reduction of >5 log CFU/unit for S. enterica and 4.53 ± 0.71 log CFU/unit for L. monocytogenes on tomatoes. The combination of organic acids and power ultrasound demonstrated synergistic effects, further enhancing pathogen reduction by <1.87 log CFU/unit. For example, S. enterica on cucumbers was reduced by an additional 1.87 log CFU/unit when treated with 2% malic acid and power ultrasound for 2 min compared to malic acid alone. Similarly, L. monocytogenes on strawberries was further reduced by 1.84 log CFU/unit when treated with 5% malic acid and power ultrasound for 2 min. These findings suggest that organic acids, particularly malic and lactic acids, combined with power ultrasound, may serve as an effective hurdle technology for enhancing the microbial safety of fresh produce. Future research can include validating these treatments in an industrial processing environment. 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

The quality and freshness of fruits and vegetables are critical factors in consumer acceptance and are significantly affected during transport and storage. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of greenhouse-grown tomatoes stored for 24 days by combining non-destructive image analysis, spectrophotometric assays (including total phenolic content and antioxidant and antiradical activity assessments), and attenuated total reflectance–Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. Additionally, water activity, moisture content, total soluble solids, texture, and color were evaluated. Most physicochemical changes occurred between days 14 and 17, without major impact on overall fruit quality. A progressive transition in peel hue from orange to dark orange, and increased surface irregularity of their textural image were noted. Moreover, the combined use of instrumental and image analyses results via multivariate analysis allowed the clear discrimination of tomatoes according to storage days. In this sense, tomato samples were effectively classified by ATR-FTIR spectral bands, linked to carotenoids, phenolics, and polysaccharides. Machine learning (ML) models, including Random Forest and Gradient Boosting, were trained on image-derived features and accurately predicted shelf life and quality traits, achieving R² values exceeding 0.9. The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of combining imaging, spectroscopy, and ML for non-invasive tomato quality monitoring and support the development of predictive tools to improve postharvest handling and reduce food waste. Full article

Tomatoes are one of the most popular vegetables. The high level of production in the world is often offset by numerous losses that occur during production in the field or in the post-production stages. Preservation in its fresh form is a challenge, particularly due to pest attacks on stored food. A promising natural and inexpensive solution to protect against pests is the use of chitosan (CH), which can be associated with essential oils (EOs) with repellent effects. In previous studies, some protective effects have been demonstrated using chitosan films coated with EOs. In this study, we tested CH-EOs associations on tomato fruits to evaluate their efficacy against attacks by the pest Spodoptera littoralis (Boisduval, 1833), taking into account parameters such as age and body mass of the larvae and the effect over time (10 days) of the treatments. Our study highlights the potential of the combination of CH and cinnamon EO as an environmentally friendly solution to protect tomatoes from S. littoralis attack. Here we found a repellent effect of cinnamon EO combined with CH on S. littoralis larvae, with no effect on larval attractiveness or repellence for CH alone and the four other EOs tested. The main compound in cinnamon EO, (E)-cinnamaldehyde, had no overall repellent effect on larvae, but had specific effects when larval age, body mass, and post-treatment time were taken into account. Full article

The evolution of global agriculture encourages the extensive use of pesticides although significant concerns regarding their impact on human health and the environment must be considered. The present paper highlights the presence and concentrations of various pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables available on Romanian markets. A total of 74 pesticide compounds authorized for agricultural use were identified and quantified in 620 randomly selected samples spanning a wide range of horticultural products by employing the QuEChERS extraction method and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The most often detected pesticides comprised boscalid and azoxystrobin, present in 42% and 37% of apple and strawberry samples, respectively, with mean concentrations of 0.12 mg/kg and 0.09 mg/kg. In cucumbers and tomatoes, difenoconazole and acetamiprid were predominant, detected in 35% and 40% of samples, with average residue amounts of 0.08 mg/kg and 0.07 mg/kg, respectively. Statistical analysis, achieved with Python 3.13.2, the pandas library (alongside descriptive statistics), and ANOVA, revealed significant variations in residue levels based on the product type and geographic origin. Boscalid and azoxystrobin were commonly encountered in apples and strawberries while difenoconazole and acetamiprid predominated in cucumbers and tomatoes. Even though the majority of pesticide residues conformed to EU maximum residue limits (MRLs), about 6% of samples, generally from imported products, displayed some residue concentrations approaching critical thresholds, with the highest exceedance observed for chlorpyrifos and lambda-cyhalothrin at concentrations of up to 0.25 mg/kg. This research provides a comprehensive overview of pesticide residues prevalence in Romania’s fresh product supply while, at the same time, supporting consumer awareness initiatives and evidencing the critical demand for continuous monitoring and strengthened regulatory frameworks for food safety. Full article

Macroalgal extracts are widely recognised as biostimulants that enhance crop productivity and plant growth under both optimal and stressful conditions. They offer a sustainable approach to mitigating the adverse effects of abiotic stress on crop development. This study investigates the efficacy of macroalgal-based fertilisers in enhancing tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) growth, yield, and fruit quality, as sustainable alternatives to chemical fertilisers. Different seaweed species (Sargassum muticum, Ulva ohnoi, Furcellaria lumbricalis, Ascophyllum nodosum, and a commercial A. nodosum extract) were evaluated as foliar treatments. The results showed that while the leaf fresh weight and chlorophyll content were not significantly affected, the fruit morphology and biochemical composition exhibited notable variations. Sargassum muticum-treated fruits displayed the highest °Brix (6.57), indicating superior sugar accumulation, while Ulva ohnoi maintained near-neutral pH levels (avg. 3.94), suggesting balanced acidity. Ascophyllum nodosum extracts induced the highest proline concentrations (peak: 63.77 µmol/g), but also caused extreme acidity (pH 1.39–2.58). Furcellaria lumbricalis enhanced the fruit size (axial length up to 41.4 mm), but reduced the pH sharply (1.69–2.13). The commercial product underperformed in regard to sugar content and flavour complexity. The integrative analysis revealed species-specific flavour profiles: Sargassum yielded sweet, mildly acidic fruits; Ascophyllum produced intensely aromatic, acidic tomatoes; and Ulva resulted in bland flavours. These findings underscore the importance of algal species and extraction methods in tailoring biofertilisers for target fruit qualities. This study advocates for the use of macroalgal fertilisers in sustainable agriculture, but highlights the need for optimised formulations to balance crop yield, taste, and stress adaptation. Full article

The agro-industrial sector generates large volumes of fruit waste each year, leading to environmental concerns and sustainability challenges. In this study, we evaluate the potential of fruit residues—apple, pear, blueberry, tomato, papaya, and a mixed fruit juice blend—as alternative sources of high-value polysaccharides, including pectins, hemicelluloses, and cellulose. Additionally, white strawberry, included as a reference from fresh fruit rather than agro-industrial waste, was analyzed to expand the comparative framework. These biopolymers, naturally derived from the plant cell wall, are renewable and biodegradable, and they possess physicochemical properties suitable for applications in food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, textile, and bioenergy industries. Using a combination of cell wall fractionation, biochemical characterization, and immunodetection of specific structural domains, we identified significant variability in polysaccharide composition and structure among the samples. Blueberry, pear, and apple residues showed high levels of rhamnogalacturonan-I (RG-I) with extensive branching, while variations in rhamnogalacturonan-II (RG-II) dimerization and the degree of methylesterification of homogalacturonan were also observed. These structural differences are key to determining the gelling properties and functional potential of pectins. In the hemicellulose fractions, xylans and xyloglucans with distinct substitution patterns were especially abundant in apple and pear waste. Our findings demonstrate that fruit processing waste holds significant promise as a sustainable source of structurally diverse polysaccharides. These results support the reintegration of agro-industrial residues into production chains and emphasize the need for environmentally friendly extraction methods to enable industrial recovery and application. Overall, this study contributes to advancing a circular bioeconomy by transforming underutilized plant waste into valuable functional materials. Full article

Tomato is a crop with high potential to be used in various food industry co-products, such as sauces. In addition to increasing the supply of differentiated products, processed foods have improved shelf life. However, as a consequence of thermal processing, there may be some important nutritional losses. In this context, the choice of suitable varieties for each type of processing based on the assessment of food losses is extremely important to both the processing industry and the consumer. Therefore, this work aimed to predict the percentage of concentration loss in tomatoes during cooking for sauce production using an artificial neural network (ANN). The prediction was made by analyzing the fresh fruit and comparing it to the cooked product. The study investigated bioactive compounds (vitamin C, ascorbic acid, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, carotenoids, anthocyanins, lycopene, and β-carotene), antioxidant activity (DPPH and FRAP), soluble solids, pH, titratable acidity, ratio, and total sugar. Nine commercial and non-commercial tomato varieties were evaluated. The artificial neural network used was the multilayer perceptron, and its results were compared with first-, second-, and third-degree polynomial regression techniques, evidencing its superiority. This superiority was confirmed by the higher correlation achieved using the ANN (R² = 0.9025), outperforming the first-, second-, and third-degree regressions (R² = 0.8817, 0.8819, and 0.8941, respectively). Furthermore, the ANN achieved a lower mean squared error (MSE = 0.000999) and strong validation performance, reinforcing its greater precision and reliability compared to traditional models. Full article

The importance of fruit shape studies extends beyond fundamental plant biology, as it holds significant implications for breeding. Understanding the genetic and hormonal regulation of fruit morphology can facilitate targeted breeding strategies to enhance yield, quality, and stress resistance, ultimately contributing to sustainable farming and nutrition security. The diversity in fruit shapes is the result of complex hormone regulation and molecular pathways that affect key traits, including carpel number, fruit length, and weight. Fruit shape is a quality attribute that directly influences consumer preference, marketability and the ease of post-harvest processing. This article focuses on investigations carried out on molecular, genetic and hormonal regulation mechanisms of fruit shape, color, maturation in fruit plants and key genetic pathways such as CLV-WUS and OVATE, as well as their roles in shaping non-climacteric fruits such as strawberries, grapes and raspberries. Plant hormones, especially abscisic acid (ABA) and indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), play a crucial role in enhancing desirable traits such as color and taste, while regulating anthocyanin synthesis and growth time. In addition, the dynamic interactions between auxin, gibberellin, and ethylene are crucial for the ripening process. Jasmonate enhances stress response, brassinosteroids promote ripening and cytokinins promote early fruit development. In addition, this review also studied the fruit morphology of species such as tomatoes and cucumbers, emphasizing the importance of the CLV-WUS pathway, which regulates the number of carpels through genes such as WUSCHEL (WUS), FRUITFULL1 (FUL1), and auxin response factor 14 (ARF14). The weight of fresh fruit is affected by microRNAs such as miRNA156, which emphasizes the importance of post transcriptional regulation. The involvement of transcription factors such as SISHN1, CaOvate, and CISUN25-26-27a further emphasizes the complexity of hormone regulation. Understanding these regulatory mechanisms can enhance our understanding of fruit development and have a profound impact on agricultural practices and crop improvement strategies aimed at meeting the growing global demand for high-quality agricultural products. Full article

Soil salinity and water deficit are important challenges for sustainable agricultural development in arid and semi-arid regions. While soil salinity and water deficits may result in lower crop yields, they may improve crop quality. The quantitative relationship between water–salt stress, crop yield, and quality is key to achieving stable yield and enhanced quality through the coordinated regulation of soil water and salt. The interaction between soil salinity and deficit irrigation on tomato quality needs to be further understood, and the model simulating the response of tomato quality to deficit irrigation under simulated soil salinity needs to be further optimized. In this study, a two-year experiment was conducted in northwest China consisting of combinations of three soil salinity levels (0 g, 3 g, and 5 g mixed salt added to 1000 g air-dried soil, respectively) and four water regimes relative to the field capacity (θ_f) (W0, W1, W2, and W3 refer to 95% θ_f, 80% θ_f, 70% θ_f, and 60% θ_f as the upper limit of soil water content, respectively). The responses of plant stem water potential (φ), fruit osmotic potential (φ_π), fruit Na⁺ content, fruit fresh weight, fruit water content, total soluble solids (TSS), lycopene (Ly), soluble sugars content (SSC), and color index (CI) to the degree of water deficit and the stage of water deficit were analyzed under soil salinity. The results show that both soil salinity and water deficit significantly reduced φ, but there is no significant interaction. TSS, SSC, and CI are all significantly affected by soil salinity, degree of water deficit, and stage of water deficit, and there is a significant interaction between the degree of water deficit and soil salinity. Fruit fresh weight, TSS, Ly, SSC, and CI are all strongly correlated with φ, and the straight lines of regression of each index with φ are significantly affected by soil salinity content. Soil salinity significantly increased the Na⁺ content in the fruit, and water deficit significantly enhanced the effect of soil salinity on the Na⁺ content of tomato fruit. A functional model to simulate fruit quality was developed based on the response of fruit quality parameters to φ and the effect of fruit Na⁺ accumulation under the compound effect of soil salinity and water deficit. The validation results of the model show that this function model effectively simulates tomato fruit quality under the combined effects of soil salinity and water deficit, providing a theoretical basis for soil water–salt management in arid and semi-arid regions. Full article

Environmental stress, notably the exposure to low temperatures during the early developmental stages of seedlings, has been identified as a critical determinant impacting the yield and quality of tomato crops cultivated in greenhouses. Silicon (Si), recognized as a beneficial element, is posited to mitigate the adverse effects of such stress on plant physiology. This study explores whether exogenous Si fertilizer can effectively alleviate the stress of low temperature and cold damage on tomato plant growth, fruit yield, and quality. Tomato plants were placed under low temperature conditions (6 °C at night, daily average temperature 15 °C), with normal temperature conditions as the control (below 16 °C at night, daily average temperature 28 °C), and two different concentrations of nano Si and ionic Si (50 mg·L⁻¹ and 200 mg·L⁻¹) were sprayed on the leaves, with an equivalent amount of deionized water as the control, for a total of 10 treatments. Relevant indexes were measured to investigate the effects of exogenous Si on tomato resistance, yield, and quality under low-temperature stress. The results show that compared with the control treatment, the plant height, stem diameter, and fresh weight of above-ground and underground parts of tomato seedlings decreased significantly by 46.52%, 42.53%, 28.81%, and 28.97%, respectively, after 15 days of low-temperature stress (p < 0.05), and in order to resist low temperature, the activity of antioxidant enzymes and the content of osmotic adjustment substances were up-regulated in seedlings. Ultimately, low-temperature stress inhibited the morphological growth, nutritional quality, and yield of fruits. Both concentrations of Si application can promote the growth and biomass accumulation of tomato plants under low temperature conditions. Moreover, it significantly ameliorated the osmotic adjustment and antioxidant capacity of the plants, thereby alleviating the low-temperature stress. Under low-temperature stress, 50 mg L⁻¹ ionic Si was the most effective for increasing tomato yield per plant, which was significantly increased by 22.44% compared with the control treatment (p < 0.05). Consequently, the study advocates for the application of 50 mg·L⁻¹ ionic Si fertilizer as a strategy to mitigate the impact of low-temperature stress on tomato plants. Furthermore, the use of nano Si fertilizer has been demonstrated to exert a significant influence on enhancing both the yield and quality of tomatoes, with a 50 mg·L⁻¹ concentration of nano Si fertilizer leading to a notable increase in yield by 20.15% under normal temperature conditions (p < 0.05). These findings are intended to furnish a theoretical foundation and practical direction for advancing research aimed at combating the detrimental effects of low-temperature stress in the context of protected vegetable cultivation. Full article

The non-destructive harvesting of fresh tomatoes with agricultural robots requires the robotic arm to approach the fruit with the correct posture to ensure successful harvesting. However, this process faces significant challenges due to the small size of fruit pedicels, cluttered environments, and varied poses of the tomatoes and pedicels. Accurately identifying, localizing, and estimating the 6D spatial pose of the cutting points is critical for efficient and non-destructive harvesting. To address these challenges, we propose a keypoint-based pose estimation model, TomatoPoseNet, tailored to meet the agronomic requirements of tomato harvesting. The model integrates an efficient fusion block (EFBlock) based on the CSPLayer, referred to as the CSEFLayer, as the backbone network, designed to fuse multiscale features while maintaining efficient computational resource usage. Next, a parallel deep fusion network (PDFN) is utilized as the neck network to integrate features from multiple parallel branches. Furthermore, simple coordinate classification (SimCC) is employed as the head network for keypoint detection, and a StripPooling block is introduced to enhance the model’s ability to capture features of different scales and shapes by applying strip pooling in horizontal and vertical directions. Finally, a geometric model is constructed based on the information about the predicted 3D keypoints to estimate the 6D pose of the cutting points. The results show the following: (1) The average precision for keypoint detection (PCK@0.05) reached 82.51%, surpassing those of ViTPose, HRNet, Lite-HRNet, Hourglass, and RTMPose by 3.78%, 9.46%, 11%, 9.14%, and 10.07%, respectively. (2) The mean absolute errors (MAEs) of the yaw and pitch angles for 6D pose estimation of the cutting points were 2.98° and 3.54°, respectively, with maximum errors within 6.5°, meeting the requirements for harvesting. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can accurately locate the 6D pose of cutting points in an unstructured tomato harvesting environment, enabling non-destructive harvesting. Full article

The tomato plant is one of the most important vegetable crops, with a global production of around 188 million tones. The greatest losses in quantity and quality occur during storage, transport, and sale. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of irradiation on the quality and storability of the tomato ‘Tomimaru Muchoo’. Fruit harvested at the turning ripening stage were illuminated for the first two weeks at 15 °C with four visible LED light spectra, with different percentages of blue, green, and red light (BGR). The illumination times were 4 and 8 h per day (hpd). After illumination, the tomatoes were stored at 20 °C in the dark for 4 weeks. Immediately after 14 d of illumination, all tomatoes were fully ripe, although they showed varying red color intensity. In addition, all fruit retained very good quality and freshness. During further storage at 20 °C, there was a gradual decrease in tomato quality. However, LED lighting helped delay softening, reduce rotting, and thus maintain better tomato quality. Longer daily irradiation (8 h) delayed tomato senescence to a greater extent than shorter irradiation (4 hpd). Comparing the spectra, the greatest reduction in softening and rotting occurred in tomatoes illuminated with the spectrum containing the highest amount of blue light (56%). These tomatoes also maintained the lowest color index (a*/b*) throughout storage at 20 °C, which was especially evident in tomatoes that had been illuminated for 8 hpd. The light treatment influenced the maintenance of higher levels of ascorbic acid and antioxidant activity in tomatoes. However, irradiation did not increase the polyphenol content of tomatoes or reduce the lycopene levels in the fruit. Overall, the results showed that LED irradiation during storage improves storability and affects the health-promoting components of tomato fruit. It is a promising tool for reducing losses of horticultural produce. Full article

The present study investigated the changes in the organoleptic characteristics, nutraceuticals, and antioxidant activity of tomato fruits subjected to different thermal processes: tomato sauce (80 °C for 30 min), blanching treatment (100 °C for 10 s), and the superheated steam method (SHS; 100 °C for 7 min) compared with fresh tomato fruit. Even though SHS negatively modified the color of the product (L* −7% than fresh tomatoes), it was the only technology able to increase the antioxidant activity compared with fresh tomatoes (e.g., +40.3% in ABTS assay), whilst lycopene and ascorbic acid contents reported similar values to fresh tomatoes. Regarding lycopene, only 5Z-lycopene (with a higher bioavailability than (all-E)-isomers) was found in all samples, and SHS maintained the same level observed in fresh tomato fruit. Furthermore, SHS technology preserved the antioxidant effects of fresh tomato extract even in human endothelial cells. This result confirmed those obtained in previous “cell-free” assays and demonstrated that SHS treatment significantly maintains the biological properties of tomato fruit in preventing oxidative stress. However, heat-treated tomato extracts did not show the same effects as fresh tomato extract against noradrenaline-induced vasoconstriction in isolated rat aortic rings. This study demonstrates that the use of SHS technology can be considered an innovative and sustainable thermal process (in terms of maintaining the nutraceutical quality) for tomato fruits, thus paving the way for future investigations on the effects of fresh and heat-treated tomatoes after intestinal absorption in vitro and in vivo. Full article