Abstract:
Major losses of fresh tomatoes happen during post-harvest storage due to prompt senescence and diseases. The aim of the research was to evaluate the effects of different spectra of LED
lights on the post-harvest preservation of ascorbic acid, lycopene, and total soluble solids, the weight
and size of tomato fruits, as well as to determine the optimal exposure time and distance of irradiation and extension of shelf-life. Therefore, experiments were carried out in a climate chamber
with shelves equipped with three different light spectra: red light-emitting diodes, red–blue–white
light-emitting diodes, and ultraviolet-light-emitting diodes. Light treatment had a certain positive
effect on the firmness, size, and mass of samples. Thus, tomato fruits (Panekra) exposed to the spectra
of LED lights demonstrated a better quality of firmness and mass compared to the control samples
(non-preserved) of tomatoes. The treatments with RL significantly improved the concentration of
lycopene than FL and UV-LED lights, although the highest concentration of lycopene was observed
in the control samples for the first 7 days of the storage. After 21 days, the ascorbic acid content in
the red spectrum was found to be much higher than in the other two spectra and control samples,
coming in at about 1.8 mg/100 mL compared to 1.0 mg/100 mL for the control samples. Total soluble
solids also increased significantly after preservation, rising from 3.9 ◦Brix in the control samples to
roughly 7.3 ◦Brix in samples preserved using the full spectrum after 21 days. Overall, the results of
the study demonstrated that tomato preservation using the investigated techniques induced lycopene
concentration, ascorbic acid, and total soluble solids concentrations. The results derived from this
study provide highly useful information in the field of post-harvest preservation.
