ISHS Acta Horticulturae 62: Symposium on Vegetable Storage
POTENTIAL FOR OUTDOOR TOMATO PRODUCTION AND STORAGE IN THE UK |
| Authors: | T.H. Thomas, D. Gray, R.L.K. Drew |
| Abstract:
Most of the UK tomato crop is produced under glass but continued reduction in profit margins and consistently high levels of imports suggest that the potential for field production should be reassessed. Previously, the use of transplants has been necessary in order to produce early crops for field ripening but the possibility of achieving a 3-week advance in maturity by fluid-drilling pregerminated seeds has now been demonstrated. The period for marketing field-grown tomatoes could possibly be extended by harvesting mature green fruit, storing them in a controlled-atmosphere (CA) until December when imports are at their highest level and then ripening them quickly. Preliminary experiments indicated that this is feasible up to mid-December, the fruit losing about 2.5% fresh wt/month in store. The possibility of even longer storage under low pressures was investigated but preliminary experiments indicated little advantage over CA-storage and weight losses were much higher. | |
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files) | |
