3.3.3. Carotenoid Pathway

In this study, three carotenoid derivatives were detected: neral, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, and geranyl acetone. Among these, the concentration of neral was very low. The amount of two important carotenoid derivatives, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one and geranyl acetone, decreased after blanching (Table 1). However, the concentration of 6-methyl-5 hepten-2-one increased after chilling treatment except for fruit harvested at the mature green stage (Table 1), contrary to Klee's result [36]. On the other hand, the reason for this result may be due to genetic differences between different varieties of tomatoes both chilling and blanching reduced geranyl acetone concentration (Table 1). Simkin et al. [39] reported that the carotenoid derivatives in tomatoes were associated with genes potentially encoding carotenoid cleavage dioxygenases, LeCCD1A and LeCCD1B. Our results also showed that the carotenoid derivatives were reduced more by chilling or blanching treatment when harvested at early stages (Table 1, Figure 5C).
