Influence of Preharvest Bagging on Maturity Indices and Postharvest Quality of Cherry Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme)

The production of cherry tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme ) is negatively affected by harsh environmental conditions such as extremely high and low temperatures, wind hail damage, pest disease infestation. These factors delay maturity cause uneven ripening, fruit abrasion, blemishes, which consequently result in poor quality reduced shelf life. Preharvest bagging an environmentally friendly alternative technique for enhancement hence alleviates the stated problems. study evaluated physico-chemical ‘Tinker’ ‘Roma VF’ influenced preharvest (transparent blue plastics) during 8 days life at ambient conditions. Five clusters per plant cultivar with a diameter 1.5 to 2.0 cm were bagged after 16 set harvested green stage, 12 assessment postharvest quality. effectively accelerated ripening indicated enhanced size, uniform color development, pH, dry matter (DM) content, soluble solid content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA) Bagged had higher loss firmness weight mainly due showed very slight incidence diseases days. Unbagged delayed ripening; small-sized fruit; development; SSC, DM; TA. Although unbagged lower moderate severe bacterial canker Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. results that improved quality, infestation on