The relationship between ergosterol and alternaria mycotoxins in tomatoes with different surface decayed proportions

The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationships between the concentrations of ergosterol (ERG) and Alternaria mycotoxins (alternariol (AOH), alternariol monomethyl-ether (AME) and tenuazonic acid (TenA)) concentrations in tomato pulp and pomace samples, with different proportions (%) of decay in tomato surface. To evaluate such relationships is used a range of 89 to 99 percent of decayed tomato surface. For this study, is used the Rio Grande variety, one of Turkey's most common industrial type tomato varieties, for tomato paste production. Tomatoes were classified in percentage as 25, 50, 75, and 100 % rotting rate, based on visibly rotten by molds on their surface, before processing to tomato pulp. Some quality parameters of tomato pulp and pomace samples determined were: the soluble solids by refractive index measurements, pH, titratable acidity with the titrimetric method, and expressed as citric acid g/L, the color as reflectance with a chroma-meter, for three color components L+, a+, b+. To determine ERG, TenA, AOH, and AME in the samples was used the HPLC method, and for the proposed method are provided data on the linearity of the standard curve, limit of detection, recovery, and precision. Also, the correlations and significance levels between the tomato surface decay proportions, and the ergosterol and the Alternaria mycotoxins concentrations are evaluated, to examine the relationships status between variables, and to determine how the other variable explains many variations within one variable. The results revealed that the concentrations of ergosterol and Alternaria mycotoxins in tomato pulp and pomace were significantly (p