Variation in antioxidant components of tomato during vine and post-harvestripening

The variation in the antioxidant content (lycopene, beta-carotene, ascorbic acid and total phenolics) was evaluated on two tomato genotypes during vin e and post-harvest ripening. Tomatoes were sampled and analysed at seven ri pening stages according to the colons value. The data indicate that ripenin g conditions affected both the antioxidant accumulation kinetics and the fi nal content, which was higher in post-harvest-ripened fruits. In particular , lycopene mainly accumulated in the very last period of ripening and its c ontent was not linearly related to colour changes. Antioxidant accumulation and other ripening indexes were not significantly different in the two tom ato genotypes. (C) 1999 Society of Chemical Industry.