Flutuação do teor de B-caroteno e licopeno em tomates armazenados

Resumo

Tomatoes were stored, protected against strong illumination and oscillations of temperature and analysed periodically for their contents of alpha and b-carotene and lycopene.

‘All samples of tomato showed extremely low a-carotene levels — tests showing only traces — so this component was not considered further.

The cultivar ‘Alcobaça’ was by far superior to the other two cultivars studied, ‘Sao Sebastião' and ‘Vitoria’, in maintaining shape and resistance to rotting during the nine-months experimental period.

There was pronounced heterogeneity in the g-carotene and lycopene contents of e fruits.

The three cultivars showed no difference in their g-carotene levels neither the day the fruits were harvested nor during a ‘week of storage.

There were remarkable differences in lycopene levels of fruits of the same cultivar both on the day of harvest and after a week's storage.

Stored ‘Alcobaça’ tomatoes oscillated both in their g-carotene and their lycopene contents, thusrevealing one pattern during the first 20 days («first period») and a second one during the ramaining 250 days («second period»).

The cultivar ‘Alcobaça’ maintained its g-carotene level during the nine months, unlike the lycopene level, which, under the same conditions, fell to 10% of its initial value.