## 4 Conclusions  
In order to prevent post-harvest deterioration and ensure consistent quality for consumers, one of the most important issues to be addressed is the quality of fruit and vegetables in relation to storage time. On this basis, the effects of storage at 15 \({}^{\circ}\)C on the peel image texture, physicochemical quality, and antioxidant/antiradical properties of hydroponic tomatoes of the Brioso variety were evaluated. This objective was achieved by applying several analytical methods, both destructive and non-destructive, to tomato peel and flesh over a 24-day storage duration. In addition to image analysis and mid-infrared spectroscopy, total soluble solids expressed as Brix, water activity, moisture content, texture, color, total phenolics, and antiradical/antioxidant activity (ABTS and FRAP) were measured after 3, 7, 10, 14, 17, and 24 days of storage. The most important findings are highlighted below. For the tomato peels, storage caused a decrease in lightness and a gradual change in color from orange to dark orange, as well as an increase in the inhomogeneity of the tomato peel image, especially after 17 days of storage. The tomato samples were  
Figure 9: Prediction of tomato quality parameters by image analysis of tomato peel using the testing dataset. Prediction of tomato (**a**) antiradical activity (ABTS), (**b**) TPC, (**c**) antioxidant activity (FRAP), (**d**) Brix, (**e**) firmness, and (**f**) moisture. successfully classified using the FTIR spectral bands at 721, 1165, and 1624 cm\({}^{-1}\), associated with carotenoids and polysaccharides, during different storage days. With regard to the physicochemical properties of the tomato flesh, the most significant changes were observed after 17 days of storage and were mainly associated with moisture content increase and Brix and firmness decrease. Furthermore, there were strong correlations between the TPC and the antioxidant and antiradical activity data, which showed higher levels between the tenth and seventeenth days of storage. As a further step, the study aimed to develop predictive models to evaluate how well textural variables from tomato peel image analysis could predict fruit quality parameters and storage duration. The findings indicated that the features of colored and grayscale images of tomato peel are good indicators of physicochemical attributes and antiradical/antioxidant activity of tomato flesh (R\({}^{2}\) > 0.9). The storage day of tomato samples was accurately predicted using a random forest regressor model trained on extracted features from tomato peel images. Finally, in terms of limitations of our study, the potential impact of tomato variety on the measured quality parameters, as different cultivars may exhibit variations in physicochemical properties and storage behavior. Future studies could explore multiple varieties from different regions to further validate the applicability of our findings across a broader range of tomato types. Importantly, this integrated method could support real-time quality monitoring during distribution, helping to flag early signs of deterioration and reduce food waste in tomato supply chains. Conceptualization, V.J.S., P.C., P.Z. and D.C.; methodology P.C., G.L., K.T., D.C., V.J.S., P.T. and E.K. ; software D.C., P.C. ; validation T.T. and E.K. ; formal analysis, T.T., P.C., P.T. and E.K. ; investigation V.J.S., P.Z., D.C., P.C., E.K., T.T., P.T., G.L. and K.T. ; data curation, P.C. and D.C.; writing--original draft preparation V.J.S., P.C. and D.C.; writing--review and editing E.K., D.C., V.J.S., T.T. and P.Z. ; visualization, P.C. and D.C.; supervision V.J.S. and P.Z. ; project administration, V.J.S. ; All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. This research received no external funding. Not applicable. The original contributions presented in this study are included in the article. Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author. We are grateful to \"Thraoe Greenhouses S.A\" for kindly providing the tomato samples.