Abstract:
Studies were carried out to determine the effects of aqueous extracts of three plant leaves: Piper
guineense, Moringa oleifera and Ocimum gratissimum on shelf life of ripe tomato (Solanum
lycopersicon (Linn). The plant leaves were air-dried and pulverized after which 5g, 10g, 15g, 20g and
25g of the pulverized plant leaves were soaked in 250ml distilled water to obtain 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and
10% concentration of the aqueous extract respectively. The tomato fruits were dipped singly and
separately into each prepared concentration of the aqueous extracts and stored in sterile desiccators at
28o+2oC and 100% relative humidity. Another set of fruits were treated with the plant extract at the
same concentration and heat treated at 700C for 2 minutes to dry the plant extract on the fruits before
storage. Daily readings were obtained to observe the disease severity of the tomato fruits as well as the
protectant ability of the plant extracts compared to the control. By the 25th day of storage, the tomato
fruits at 10% aqueous plant concentration of Piper guineense with 2.80±0.92a which had the highest
resistance to bio deterioration as the disease severity was lowest in such fruits. This was followed by
fruits treated with Ocimum gratissimum 3.20±0.00a and Moringa oleifera treated fruits which showed
least resistant to biodetertioration with mean 3.20±0.80a . In the heat treated tomato fruits, the least
degree of bio deterioration was observed in fruits treated with Ocimum gratissimum with mean of
3.00±0.84a followed by fruits treated with Piper guineense at 3.20±0.98a while the least effective was
Moringa oleifera at 3.40±0.98a. The results showed varying effectiveness of the plant extracts used
while the heat treated fruits showed a different trend which could be attributed to the interaction of heat
with the plant extract. The results showed that 10% P. guineense extract was the most effective in the
control of bio deterioration of ripe tomato fruits after 25 days of storage.
