Influence of planting date and mulching on some qualitative traits of processed tomato

Tomato is one of the most important vegetables in the world. This crop can be used as a fresh vegetable and, since the last century, for processing (sauce, paste etc.). For this reason, breeders have been selecting and improving many cultivars in order to satisfy industry requirements like high yield, handling resistance of fruits, maturation time, uniformity of shape, and resistance to pests and diseases. Recently attention has focused on qualitative aspects because of consumers’ increased health awareness. Some of the most recent studies have been on improving aspects like contents of antioxidants, ascorbic acid, dry matter, sugar, and pH. The aim of this experiment was to study if mulching and planting date could affect fruit qualitative properties of different cultivars of processing tomatoes. Four cultivars ‘Augusto’ F1 (AUG), ‘NPT 63’ (NPT), ‘Safaix’ (SAF) and ‘Tiziano’ F1 (TIZ), four planting dates 14/4, 4/5, 14/5 and 25/5 called P1, P2, P3 and P4 and two mulching treatments named mulched (M) and not mulched (NM) were compared. Samples were analyzed to determine peel resistance and flesh consistency, pH, titratable acidity, phenols, total antioxidant activity and soluble solids content (SSC). From a quality point of view results showed that TIZ was the best cultivar with suitable properties for processing. Mulching seemed to decrease the content of total phenols and the consistence of tomato fruits, stimulating yield. Planting date also affected organoleptic tomato quality. P4 fruits had the highest phenol content, antioxidant activity, dry matter and flesh color. Structural properties of P4 fruits were good for processing but slightly lower than P1 fruits.