A short hot water rinsing and brushing reduces chilling injury and enhances resistance against Botrytis cinerea in fresh harvested tomato

The effectiveness of a short prestorage hot water rinsing and brushing (HWRB) on resistance to decay development and chilling injury (CI) was studied on pink tomato fruit that were kept for 15 days at 5 or 12°C plus threedays at 22°C. HWRB-52°C for 15 s, or dipping the fruit at 52°C for 1 min (Hot water dip= HWD), significantly reduced decay development and completely inhibited CI symptoms after storage and marketing simulation. The HWRB-52°C treatment enhanced fruit resistance against artificially inoculated Botrytis cinerea when fruit were inoculated 24 hr after treatment. Resistance was less pronounced when the fruit were inoculated 6 hr after treatment, and disappeared completely in fruit inoculated 48 hr after HWRB treatment. On a commercial scale, treatments with hot water dips may be difficult to accomplish since 60 s is considered a long treatment time. Therefore, the alternative method of a very short (15 s) HWRB-52°C treatment would be desirable for treating fresh-harvested tomatoes. This treatment extends storability well over three weeks at 5°C by minimizing CI and enhancing resistance against pathogens during storage.