Abstract:
This study was conducted in the green houses and cold storage unit of the
Department of Horticulture , College of Agriculture, University of Baghdad
during 2007-2008 to study the effect of Ethrel on ripening and the storability of
Tomato fruits (c.v. Nura) . Mature green fruits were harvested and treated with
Ethrel solutions( 0, 250, 500, 1000, 2000 ppm) then stored in cold room 15 ± 2
°c for one month. The results showed that using (1000 and 2000ppm) of Ethrel
led to decrease fruit firmness down to 2.780 and 2.480 kg/cm2 respectively and
reduce the percentage of organic acids to 0.568% , 0.538% , also the (2000
ppm) treatment led to reduce fruit content of vitamin C to 52.042 mg/kg. The
percentage of damage was reduced to 30.04% when the fruits treated with (500
ppm) of Ethrel.