Abstract :
Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is one of the top fruits in the Philippines with high nutritional value. The study was conducted to determine the effects of various safe phytochemical extracts and Calcium chloride (CaCl2) on the postharvest quality and shelf life of tomato under ambient temperature and identify the most effective treatment to improve tomato fruit quality. The study was laid out using Completely Randomized Design (CRD). Tomato fruits were dipped in different fruit extracts and combination of CaCl2: T1-hagimit, T2-hagimit+1% CaCl2, T3 - starfruit, T4 - starfruit+ 1% CaCl2, T5-cat's whisker, T6-cat's whisker+ 1% CaCl2, T7 –Pineapple, T8-Pineapple+ 1% CaCl2, T9 -1% CaCl2, T10 -Control (untreated). Phytochemicals derived from starfruit with 1% CaCl2 had significantly delayed tomato fruit softening than control and other treatments. Phytochemicals of pineapple alone, hagimit and cat’s whisker combined with calcium effectively decreased the respiration rate of tomato fruits until 40 days of storage. Percent weight loss, visual quality rating, shelflife, pH value, TSS (Brix) and TA (%) were not significantly affected. This result indicates that the application of phytochemicals combined with calcium chloride as coating improves the fruit quality of tomato.