## 3 Results and Discussion
### Tomato Fruit Firmness  
Table 5 shows the significant differences between salinity levels and storage conditions on tomato fruit firmness for all varieties. On average, the highest values of firmness of tomato fruits for all varieties were recorded for fruits produced at high salinity (S-3: 9.5 dS m\({}^{-1}\)), with significant differences from the lowest values recorded for fruits produced at low salinity (S-1: 2.5 dS m\({}^{-1}\)). However high salinity significantly improved the firmness of harvested tomato fruits. On the other hand, no significant differences were observed between the firmness values of fruits produced at high salinity (S-3: 9.5 dS m\({}^{-1}\)) and medium salinity (salinity-2: 6.0 dS m\({}^{-1}\)) for the Ghandowra-F1 and Forester- F1 varieties. Referring to the firmness of tomato fruits for the studied varieties, the highest value was recorded for Forester-F1 (8.46 N cm\({}^{-1}\)), followed by Ghandowra-F1 (8.36 N cm\({}^{-1}\)) and Feisty-Red (7.77 N cm\({}^{-1}\)). Table 6 summarizes the interaction effect of the storage period and temperature on the firmness of tomato fruits. The highest mean firmness of tomato fruits was recorded in the control treatment (fresh fruits), then it decreased significantly with the length of storage periods. On the other hand, it was observed that the firmness decreased significantly at a storage temperature of 22 \({}^{\circ}\)C compared to 12 \({}^{\circ}\)C, at the same storage period. Similar findings were also obtained by [PERSON] et al. [42], where storage at a temperature near to 22 \({}^{\circ}\)C decreased tomato firmness during storage as a result of moisture content loss [15]. This result also was consistent with the findings of [PERSON] et al. [48] that tomato fruit firmness did not change during storage at around 10 \({}^{\circ}\)C, but it decreased significantly when stored at temperatures greater than 20 \({}^{\circ}\)C. These results indicated that high storage temperatures might deteriorate the firmness of tomato fruits [27]. In contrast, [PERSON] et al. [29] reported that low storage temperature results in less juiciness, which in turn leads to softer tomato fruit. Accordingly, tomato fruits of Ghandowra-F1 and Forester-F1 varieties could be successfully stored for up to 8 days at 12 \({}^{\circ}\)C, while the tomato fruits of the Feisty-Red variety could be stored successfully for up to 4 days at 12 \({}^{\circ}\)C. These results are in line with the findings of [PERSON] et al. [27] that a low storage temperature of about 10 \({}^{\circ}\)C is suitable for maintaining the firmness of tomato fruits, where softening of tomato fruits completed at around the 7 th day of storage. In general, as storage duration increased, the fruit hardness levels were significantly decreased. Figure 4 shows the results of firmness values for tomato fruits as affected by different combinations of salinity levels (S-1, S-2, and S-3) and storage treatments (ST-0 to ST-9). The highest mean firmness values (9.76 N cm\({}^{-1}\)) and (9.05 N cm\({}^{-1}\)) were recorded for Ghandowra-F1 and Feisty-Red for the combination S-3/ST-0, with no significant difference from the firmness values (9.75 N cm\({}^{-1}\)) and (9.03 N cm\({}^{-1}\)) recorded for the combination S-3/ST-3. Moreover, no significant differences in the firmness values of tomato fruits for the Ghandowra-F1 variety were obtained between the combinations of S-3/ST-0 (9.76 N cm\({}^{-1}\)) and S-2/ST-3 (9.53 N cm\({}^{-1}\)), while for Forester-F1, the highest mean firmness value (9.72 N cm\({}^{-1}\)) was associated with the combination of S-2/ST-0, with no significant differences from the firmness value (9.66 N cm\({}^{-1}\)) obtained for the combination of S-2/ST-3. Based on the firmness values, tomato fruits of both the Ghandowra-F1 and Forster-F1 varieties, grown at salinity-3: (9.5 dS m\({}^{-1}\)), could be stored for up to 8 days at 12 \({}^{\circ}\)C, at salinity-2: (6.0 dS m\({}^{-1}\)), while the Feisty-Red variety could be stored up to the 8 th day of storage and temperature of 12\({}^{\circ}\).