LED-enhanced dietary and organoleptic qualities in postharvest tomato fruit

Abstract

Tomato fruit possess high lycopene concentrations, which increases after reaching the breaker stage of ripeness. Light emitting diode (LED) systems have emerged as a clean and efficient artificial lighting technique for use in horticulture. The objective of this research was to examine the effect of LEDs on postharvest and lycopene quality parameters. The effects on quality parameters were significantly different depending on the tomato fruit cultivar. The commercial and organoleptic quality parameters most affected were firmness and titratable acidity. The lycopene concentration in all tomato cultivars increased between 30% and 60% when they were exposed to LED light compared with dark-exposed fruit. One hour of LED light exposure per day during the postharvest phase of fruit increased commercial and organoleptic parameters, and increased the lycopene concentration. Fruit exposed to LED light with a high red:far red (R:FR) light ratio had increased firmness compared with those exposed to other types of white LED light. The highest R:FR ratio used in this study resulted in fruit with higher titratable acidity than those exposed to lower R:FR ratios. Overall, the results of this study demonstrated that the postharvest exposure of tomato fruit to LED light with a high R:FR ratio induces lycopene synthesis, with lycopene concentrations being 41% higher in comparison with exposure to darkness and 24% higher in comparison with exposure to other LED lighting conditions.