International Journal of Horticulture 2015, Vol.5, No.14, 1
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12
10
2.3 Observations recorded and analysis of
biochemical variables
The observations were recorded on five randomly
selected tomato plants on (i) plant height (cm),
(ii)
number of flowers per cluster, (iii) number of
clusters per plant, (iv) total numbers of fruits per
plant, (v) number of fruits per cluster, (vi)
average weight of fruit (g), (vii) total fruit yield
(kg/plant),
(viii)
number of locules per fruit, (ix)
pericarp thickness (mm),
(x) fruit shape index, (xi)
dry matter content (%), (xii) total soluble solids
(
o
Brix),
(xiii) titrable acidity (mg/100 ml), (xiv)
lycopene content (mg/100 g),
(xv) ascorbic acid content
(mg/100 ml) and (xvi) carotene content (mg/100 g).
2.4 Total soluble solids (◦brix)
The total soluble solids of the selected samples were
determined with a hand refractometer (Model: ERMA
Inc., Tokyo, Japan). The refractometer was washed with
distilled water each time after use and dried with
blotting paper.
2.5 Titratable acidity (mg/100 ml)
Two milliliter of juice was titrated against 0.1 N
sodium hydroxide (NaOH) using phenolphthalein as
an indicator. Appearance of pink colour was taken as
end point of titration. Titratable acidity was expressed
in terms of mg anhydrous citric acid in 100 ml of juice
and calculated as follows:
Titratable acidity =
2.6 Lycopene (mg/100 g)
Two gram fruit sample was taken and pigment was
extracted with 10 ml acetone in portions, using 2 ml at
a time until a colourless residue was obtained. The
acetone was evaporated to dryness. The volume was
brought to 25 ml with petroleum ether. The optical
density was read at 505 nm (since β carotene has
negligible absorbance at this wavelength) using a UV–vis
spectrophotometer (Model: Systronics 108, India).
Petroleum ether was used as blank. Lycopene content
was calculated as:
Lycopene content =
2.7 Ascorbic acid (mg/100 ml)
It was estimated by 2,6-dichlorophenol indophenol
method of AOAC (1975). Two milliliter juice sample
was added to an equal volume of 6% metaphosphoric
acid in a conical flask and titrated with standard dye
solution. The end point was indicated by the appearance of
pink colour, which persisted for about 15 s. The dye
was standardized with standard stock solution (1 mg/1
ml) of ascorbic acid. The results were expressed as
milligrams ascorbic acid/100 ml of tomato juice and
calculated as follows:
Ascorbic acid =
where
Y
is the volume of dye used (ml) in titrating 2
ml juice and
X
the volume of dye used (ml) in titrating
2 ml standard stock solution.
3 Conclusion
It was concluded from the above study that the hybrid
“HS-18” was promising for fruit yield and quality
traits and thus it can be commercially exploited for
polyhouse cultivation.
Acknowledgemen
t
The authors are highly grateful to AVRDC-The World
Vegetable Centre, Taiwan for providing experimental
material and funds for carrying out the research work.
Authors' contributions
SKJ
: Carry out the work and draft the manuscript;
MSD:
Participated in the designing of the study;
NC:
Helped to
analyzing biochemical parameters.
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