Tomato fruit quality - an interdisciplinary approach

In the last two decades, tomato fruit yields in Ireland have increased by 100% to about 375 tonnes per hectare for long-season crops. This represents a very considereable increase in the intensity of growing and may have implications for fruit quality. For this reason, the inter-relationship between crop production, yield, quality and composition of tomato fruit from high-yielding, intensive growing systems was evaluated by the authors (a food technologist and a crop production specialist, respectively.) with the aid of research contracts awarded under the 1979-1983 and 1984-1988 Agro-Food Programmes (Directorate General VI) of the Commission of the European Communities (Anon,1978, 1983). The research embraced a number of elements, including baseline studies on the quality of commercially grown tomatoes. The effects of growing media, fertilizer levels, nutrient solutions, plant spacing, interplanting and energy-saving techniques on tomato fruit quality were assessed, as was the quality of different cultivars. Procedures for testing and evaluating tomato fruit quality (including sensory aspects) were assessed via inter-laboratory studies with European colleagues. This paper highlights some of the findings of this research and cites the published.