The results of Experiments 1 and 2 agreed, providing evidence that the changes in tomato fruit during postharvest ripening demonstrated in this study are reproducible for the tomato variety studied. The slight differences between Experiments 1 and 2 involved both the local development of bubbles in the outer pericarp and shrinking of air spaces in the locular tissue. Both phenomena could be explained by different growing conditions before harvesting. Although great care was taken to reproduce the same experimental conditions, some differences in the climatic conditions in the glasshouse during the development of the tomatoes were noted. In fact, the temperature and the water deficit during
this time were slightly greater in the case of Experiment 2. Thus the differences in water stress endured by cells during their development may be at the origin of these variations. Saltveit (1991) observed the decrease in tomato pericarp density with fruit ripening only for fruit grown in the fields during summer. When the same cultivars were grown under cooled conditions in the greenhouse or in the field during spring, Saltveit (1991) found that density increased during ripening.