Production Practices and Quality Assessment of Food Crops. Vol. 1

Effects of Agronomic Practices 45
Regarding the cultivation method, open field grown tomatoes showed higher
carotenoid concentrations than those grown under glass or under plastic. Tomatoes
grown on soil contained significantly lower amounts of ascorbic acid and carbohydrates
compared to four hydroponic systems, based on rock wool and expanded
clay as substrates.
Contents of vitamin C and carotenoids were significantly affected by storage
for 12 month at –20 °C and –30 °C in contrast to sugars, remaining unchanged.
Heat-based processing of tomatoes showed a different behaviour for ascorbic acid
and carotenoids. While ascorbic acid decreased with increasing heating time, the
content of bioaccessible lycopene increased during thermal processing.
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