International Journal of Horticulture, 2025, Vol.15, No.2, 51-60 http://hortherbpublisher.com/index.php/ijh 55 3.2 Titratable acidity Titratable acidity is the total acid concentration in fruits. TA decreased showing a significant difference (p<0.001) with a grand mean of 0.53% on the 15th day of storage (Table 3). The highest TA was identified in T1 (0.1% GA3) with 0.58% and T6 (1.5% CaCl2) with 0.57%, while the lowest TA was found in the control (0.49%). Except for these, SA also proved effective in maintaining higher TA levels valued at 0.56% with treatment T9 (0.3 mM SA). However, after 25 days of storage, CaCl2-treated fruits showed maximum retention of titratable acidity (0.47%) than gibberellic acid-treated tomatoes valued at 0.43%. Table 3 Effects of different treatments on Acidity % after 15th DAS Treatment code Treatments Acidity (%) T1 0.1%GA3 0.58 T2 0.2%GA3 0.55 T3 0.3%GA3 0.52 T4 0.5%CaCl2 0.51 T5 1%CaCl2 0.53 T6 1.5%CaCl2 0.57 T7 0.1mMSA 0.52 T8 0.2mMSA 0.55 T9 0.3mMSA 0.56 T10 Control 0.49 SE±M - 0.01 LSDat 5% - 0.03 CV% - 3.1 Note: SE±M = Standard error of differences of mean, LSD = Least significant difference, CV = Coefficient of variation, DAS= Days after storage 3.3 Total sugar-acid ratio The statistical result revealed that there was a significant difference in total sugar acid ratio (p<0.05) with the lower sugar acid ratio found in T1 (0.1% GA3) and T6 (1.5% CaCl2) and the highest sugar acid ratio found in T10 or the control (Figure 1). After 25 days of storage, an increased sugar-acid ratio was observed in the remaining treatments (T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, and T6) signifying the increased concentration of sugar and decreasing acidity levels. Figure 1 Effect of different treatments on total sugar acid ratio after 15th days after storage 3.4pH A highly significant difference (p<0.01) was observed in tomatoes treated with GA3, CaCl2, and SA during the storage period of 15 days. The highest pH was recorded in T10 (control) while the lowest pH was in T3 (0.3%
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