摘要：Postharvest treatment of tomato ( Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) fruits with synthetic fungicide is receiving major criticism due to its health risk and negative ecological inputs. This work was designed to evaluate the effect of Aframomum danielli aqueous extract on some chemical and antioxidant components of tomato fruits. Two hundred grams of fresh tomato fruits were dipped differently in 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5% (w/v) A. danielli extract for 30 min. Each treatment was packed in 30 μm thickness low-density polyethylene bags. Another batch of 200 g of tomato fruits were treated with sodium bicarbonate and untreated 200 g tomato fruits served as control. The fruits were evaluated at interval of 5 days for changes in pH, brix, reducing sugars, lycopene, ascorbic acid and phenolic contents. A significant higher pH (4.1-4.6) than untreated samples (3.71) was obtained. Treated tomato samples showed significantly (p<0.05) higher value (1.17-2.83 °brix) of TSS as compared with control samples (1.00-2.30°brix). Lycopene contents reduced significantly with lower values obtained from sodium bicarbonate-treated and untreated samples. Ascorbic acid differed significantly (p<0.05) in all treatments over the storage period in both storage conditions. Samples treated with 5% A . danielli had significantly higher values (10.40-20.17 mg 100 g-1) than their control counter parts (9.96-18.17 mg 100 g-1). The results indicate that postharvest treatment with A. danielli extract extended the shelf life of tomato and retained significant amount of TSS, lycopene, ascorbic acid of tomato fruits, when compared with untreated samples.
