To evaluate the effect of early harvesting on the fruit quality of two commercial cherry tomato hybrids (Conchita F1 and Cherelino F1), fruits were harvested:
(1) at the red-ripe stage (RR),
(2) at the breaker stage (BR) and held at 25οC in the dark, or
(3) at the mature-green stage (MG), treated with ethylene (150 mg l-1 for 48 h, at 25ºC in the dark) and held at 25ºC under light (2,500 lx) or darkness.
During ripening and/ or at full ripeness, fruit quality was evaluated with respect to colour, respiration and ethylene production, firmness and composition (sugars and starch).
Fruits of Conchita harvested at the MG stage and held in the light developed a uniform red colour within 7 days of ethylene treatment, whereas Cherelino fruits harvested at the same stage took 5 days longer to mature and failed to redden uniformly.