Monthly variations in fruit quality of hydroponic tomatoes grown in high technology greenhouses

In Turkey, production of cluster tomatoes is dominant in soilless culture in high technology greenhouses. The aim of this study was to determine variations in fruit quality of different cluster type tomato cultivars grown in perlite in a commercial greenhouses heated by geothermal energy. Samples were taken monthly from December up to July from four different cultivars ('Bandita', 'Climberley', 'Diamentino' and 'Soupless'). Physical (fruit weight and number truss-1, average fruit weight, fruit color), chemical (total soluble solids, titratable acidity, vitamin C content, antioxidant activity, total phenols) and sensory evaluations were made. Among the tested cultivars, 'Bandita' was superior in respect to fruit quality throughout the harvest season. On the other hand, it can be concluded that 'Climberley' and 'Diamentino' were superior regarding yield. Average vitamin C content ranged from 7.29 to 10.36 mg 100 g-1 fresh weight (FW) according to harvest period. Antioxidant activity were between 2.14 and 2.84 ?mol trolox equivalents g-1 FW. Total phenolic content was the lowest (33.54 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE) 100 g-1 FW) in December and the highest (39.48 mg GAE 100 g-1 FW) in June. © 2020 International Society for Horticultural Science. All rights reserved.We are grateful to Agrobay Seracılık for providing fruit samples to the experiment and Ege University Scientific Research Fund (Contract No: ? ? ? ? ZRF ? ? ?) for providing financia