Quality and Postharvest Performance of Organically-Grown Tomato (lycopersicon esculentum L. 'Marmande') under Unheated Tunnel in Mediterranean Climate

摘要

The organic production method includes a defined list of technical tools that are allowed in the EU Regulation and which can lead to different product quality. Different approaches to the fertility management of tomato organic production were comparedin relation to the quality at harvest and during storage. Three organic farming systems were implemented in an experimental greenhouse: i) a simplified organic production system based on organic commercial fertilizers (SUBST); ii) organic production system based on animal manure amendment and cover crops (AGROMAN); and iii) organic production system based on green manuring of cover crops and on-farm compost amendment (AGROCOM). At harvest, breaker and pink tomatoes were sampled from each system. Breaker tomatoes were subsequently stored in a cold room at 15°C and ripened up to pink stage within 10 days. The effect of the fertilization systems was studied comparing breaker tomatoes after 10 days of storage and pink tomato ripened on plant and after storage. Yield, morphological indexes, dry matter, firmness, and composition were evaluated. The three systems produced comparable total (58.87±5.4 t ha"1), and marketable (48.19±5.1 t ha"1) yields. AGROMAN fruits were larger in comparison to the other systems. AGROCOM system led to lower firmness, acidity and carotenoids than SUBST system and also showed the lowest dry matter. At harvest, SUBST tomatoes at the breaker stage showed higher vitamin C than AGROCOM, while this difference was not statistically significant after ripening. Pink tomatoes ripened on plant showed higher soluble solids content than pink tomatoes ripened in storage; moreover, for AGROCOM and SUBST the carotenoids content was higher when ripened on the plant. In conclusion, in complex systems (AGROMAN and AGROCOM), it is possible to synchronise the mineralisation rates of organic amendments and green manure with the needs of the plants, and to obtain similar tomatoes yields and quality of simpler and less sustainable systems (SUBST).