Soil-borne microbes, natural stimulants, and post-harvest treatments alter quality and phytochemicals of tomato fruit

ABSTRACTVarious approaches have been used to improve the quality of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum. L.) fruit. Studies on the impact of soil-born microbe and natural stimulant inoculum on tomato fruit are limited. Concentrations of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and licorice root extract (LRE) were applied to the soil under greenhouse conditions. How post-harvest period affected quality of tomato fruit was tested by storing fruit after harvest. All treatments reduced weight loss compared to the control. The LRE applications increased fruit hardness, cohesiveness, and total sugar. Integrated AMF with LRE treatments improved fruit hardness, springiness, and cohesiveness increased. Overall, pH, total soluble solids, total sugar, total phenol, and chlorophyll contents of the fruit were increased, however, total acidity and vitamin C decreased. The AMF and LRE applications can be used to improve tomato fruit quality and yield.KEYWORDS: Solanum lycopersicumarbuscular mycorrhizal fungilicorice extractfruit qualitystorage period AcknowledgmentsWe are grateful for the support from the University of Sulaimani for this work. We thank the greenhouse staff in the College of Agricultural Sciences, University of Sulaimani for their assistance.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availability statementThe datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.