Evolution of Quality Parameters in the Maturation Stage of Tomato Fruit

Studies on the morphological traits and chemical composition of the fruit of six tomato cultivars recommended as raw material for freezing

“…With respect to the content of protopectins the obtained results agree with data in the literature [14,33] while the percentage of protopectins in the total content of pectin compounds approximated to the interval reported by Liu and Luh [30]. Lopez-Andreu et al [32] observed that in a great measure the level of pectin compounds depended upon the degree of fruit ripeness. It should be stressed, however, that in the present study fruits of the most uniform maturity were carefully selected for analyses.…”

“…Depending on the cultivar, beta-carotene constituted 27 -35% of carotenoids with a mean content of 1.51 mg/100 g. For a group of cultivars determined as orange-red, Vyrodova et al [38] evidenced the content of 1.19-7.67 mg of beta-carotene and 0.67 -4.17 mg of lycopene in 100 g. In the analysed cultivars the average content of lycopene was twice that of betacarotene, reaching 3.27 mg/100 g, while differences between the cultivars were not significant. Similar quantities of lycopene and distinctly smaller contents of beta-carotene were given by Johjima [25], Lopez-Andreu et al [32], and Subburamu et al [37].…”

“…This was confirmed by the results of the present study, showing that the total amount of these compounds constituted 90 -98% of carotenoids depending on the cultivar. The compared cultivars did not differ in the level of carotenoids, whose mean content of 5.08 g/100 g was in the middle of a very wide interval of 2.1 -13.2 mg/100 g [10,32]. The share of beta-carotene and lycopene in carotenoids depends among other factors on the cultivar, above all on the dominant colour.…”

Analysis of the genetic control of β-carotene and l-ascorbic acid accumulation in an orange-brownish wild cherry tomato accession

“…As it happened with b-carotene, the additive 9 environment contribution, while not as significant as in the previous case, makes it clear that the derived genotypes in these breeding programmes should be designed to target environments similar to those described above. The underlying reason for this would be that ascorbic acid accumulation in tomato fruits also seems to be directly correlated with temperature (Liptay et al 1986) and solar radiation (Lopez-Andreu et al 1986)-albeit these do not reach stressful levels.…”

Seasonal variations in the antioxidant composition of greenhouse grown tomatoes

“…Tomato fruits exposed to direct sunlight during development have also been reported to contain higher carotene levels than shaded fruits (McCollum, 1954). It was also found that greenhouse grown tomatoes contained lower levels of ascorbic acid and flavonoids than outdoor grown tomatoes due to lower light intensity in the greenhouse (Herrmann, 1976;Lopez-Andreu et al, 1986). In addition to light, variation in temperature can also affect the antioxidant composition of tomatoes.…”