## 3 Results and Discussion  
Characterization of Tomato During Storage Using Textural-Image Analysis of the Outer Surfaces of Tomato Peels  
Image analysis is a non-destructive, accurate, and effective method of assessing the freshness and appearance of fruits and vegetables, improving their quality and optimizingstorage conditions [35; 36; 38]. To assess the effect of storage time and conditions on tomato samples, textural features extracted from colored and grayscale images of the outer surface of the tomato peels were statistically evaluated. The features with significantly changed values from different storage days were selected. The changes in textural features during the 24-day storage period are shown in Figure 3.  
The L* (lightness), a* (red-green), and b* (yellow-blue) parameters, extracted from the tomato peel images, significantly (\(p<0.05\)) decreased until day 14, followed by an increase until day 17, after which they remained stable until the end of storage. The hue angle (h) values (from day 3 to day 24: 43.39 \(\pm\) 0.80a, 43.71 \(\pm\) 0.74a, 44.07 \(\pm\) 0.67a, 41.57 \(\pm\) 0.50b, 41.87 \(\pm\) 0.78b, 41.80 \(\pm\) 0.77b) exhibited a significant (\(p<0.05\)) reduction on day 14, stabilizing thereafter. When comparing the initial and final storage days, a significant (\(p<0.05\)) decrease in lightness was observed, accompanied by a gradual color shift from orange to dark orange. In accordance with these results, [PERSON] et al. (2021) reported a significant reduction in tomato lightness during a 12-day storage period at 10 and 22 \({}^{\circ}\)C [9]. Color changes in tomato peel can be attributed to many factors, such as the ripening stage of the tomato, changes in moisture content, oxygen levels, respiration rate, ethylene production and transpiration rate, storage temperature and duration, relative levels of lycopene, beta-carotene and chlorophyll and their differentiation during storage, accumulation of flavonoids pigments, and the interactions among them [14; 24; 29; 34; 43; 44; 45; 46]. Research indicated that maintaining storage temperatures near 15 \({}^{\circ}\)C, along with the use of fruit packaging or coatings, reduces ethylene production, physiological respiration, and transpiration in tomato. This process also slows down chlorophyll degradation and carotenoid synthesis [29; 44; 47], which in turn delays the progression of tomato maturity. By the end of the storage (Figure 3), a significant (\(p<0.05\)) decline was noted in mean (average pixel intensity), homogeneity (the consistency of pixel values), correlation (the relationship between gray levels), and long run emphasis (the dominance of extended sequences of similar intensity pixels). Conversely, dissimilarity (variations in texture), short run emphasis (short sequences of similar intensity pixels), gray level non-uniformity (differences in gray level distribution), run length non-uniformity (RLN), variability in the lengths of intensity runs), and run percentage (RP), the overall distribution of runs) showed a significant (\(p<0.05\)) increase toward the end of storage. Notably, there was a distinct and reversible variation in textural features on day 7, likely due to short-term redistribution of water inside the fruit peel or a delayed reaction of the fruit to storage conditions [48]. The most pronounced changes in most features were detected between days 14 and 17 of storage. The results showed a deterioration in the textural structural integrity and an increase in the inhomogeneity of the tomato peel image, which became more irregular and fragmented after 17 days of storage. Comparable effects of texture deterioration and increased peel dissimilarity during storage have been documented for a variety of vegetables and fruits, such as bananas, strawberries, and cucumbers [35; 36; 38; 49; 50; 51], and are also associated with a reduction in fruit appearance.