Why do tomatoes stay hard and unspoiled for so long? It turns out there are these two reasons
Today's hard tomatoes are actually one of the storage traits of tomatoes, and this point is related to tomato breeding, while the other point is related to today's tomato harvesting system. It is precisely because of these two points that the storage quality of tomatoes has been greatly enhanced. It can also be said that this developed along with our country's urbanization process. In the past, when our country's urbanization was not yet concentrated, agricultural products did not need to be transported over long distances, but now with highly concentrated urbanization, relying only on vegetables from the suburbs is far from enough to meet supply, and they have to be transported from distant places. But if the storage quality is poor, this task cannot be completed. Below is an introduction to the storage characteristics.
Tomato breeding
In the past, once tomatoes ripened, even a slight bump would make them rot or split open, which was very unfavorable for long-distance transport. To solve the transport and storage characteristics of tomatoes, breeding scientists improved the storage quality of tomatoes from breeding materials. Of course, the effect of solving this trait through traditional breeding is still much worse, but it is not without effect. The storage quality can be fixed through genetic improvement.
Later, scientists improved the storage characteristics through transgenic methods. You may not know that our country's first genetically modified tomato was bred by Huazhong Agricultural University specifically for the storage characteristics of tomatoes. Of course, the transgenic method is quick in effect, and the effect is naturally very good. In terms of taste, there will be no change. Genetic modification only made a genetic modification for the storage characteristic. However, at present, commercial cultivation of genetically modified tomatoes has been cancelled, and the tomatoes in our country at present are not genetically modified tomatoes.
Harvest and storage system
In the past, tomatoes were harvested after ripening and then entered the vegetable market for sale. Now this situation has changed somewhat: they are harvested before the tomatoes ripen, and then ripened with ethephon before entering the vegetable market for sale. The two processes seem to have little change, but just the difference between harvesting after ripening and harvesting before ripening is much greater. Including today's tomatoes, even if they are not storage-resistant, if harvested before ripening, the storage quality of the tomatoes is very high. Everyone has seen green tomatoes. At this time, tomatoes can be stored for a very long time, while ripe tomatoes cannot last too long no matter how they are stored. Now, in order to facilitate tomato transport, the method of harvesting before ripening and then ripening must be adopted.
It is precisely because of the above two reasons that the storage resistance of our current tomatoes has improved a lot, and it also allows urban residents to eat more tomatoes. Otherwise, transporting tomatoes to the city would be a problem, let alone meeting urban people's demand for tomatoes. As for the storage resistance of tomatoes, everyone does not need to worry that it is harmful to the human body. It is completely unnecessary.
This article is originally created by Science Xingnong. Welcome to follow, and take you to grow knowledge together.