Abstract:

【Objective】Study the relevant nutrients of tomato sensory quality evaluation to establish a simple model for the determination of tomato sensory quality.【Methods】19 tomato varieties were tested for 8 nutrients，and 5 sensory evaluation indexes were investigated by questionnaires. Correlation analysis，principal component analysis （PCA） and regression analysis were used for comprehensive evaluation.【Results】Except zinc，7 of the 8 nutrients had correlation coefficients greater than 0.300 with sensory quality. The correlation coefficients between soluble solid and score，vote，taste，aroma intensity，pulp texture，and juice abundance in both large and cherry tomatoes were greater than 0.400，and the correlations were stable and prominent. Soluble sugar was significantly or extremely significantly positively correlated with score，vote，taste and aroma intensity in large tomatoes，while the correlation were not obvious in cherry tomatoes. Water content was negatively correlated with score，vote，and juice abundance in both large and cherry tomatoes. Principal component analysis summarized the 11 evaluation indicators into 3 principal components，with an accumulated variance contribution rate of 74.939%. A simple model was obtained through multivariate linear regression analysis：tomato sensory quality predicted score =93.039-0.304 × vitamin C content -0.179 × lycopene content -0.621 × iron content +2.314 × soluble solid content -1.585 × titratable acid content.【Conclusion】A rapid，simple and quantitative determination model of tomato sensory quality based on nutrients was established.

Key words: Tomato, Nutrient, Sensory quality, Multivariate statistical analysis