Insights Into the Adaptation to Greenhouse Cultivation of the Traditional Mediterranean Long Shelf-Life Tomato Carrying the alc Mutation: A Multi-Trait Comparison of Landraces, Selections, and Hybrids in Open Field and Greenhouse

Abstract

Long shelf-life tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) landraces, characterized by carrying the alc allele in the NOR.NAC locus, have been traditionally cultivated in the Mediterranean region. These materials are adapted to open field conditions under low input conditions. However, cultivation under greenhouse is expanding fueled by increasing demand of these traditional tomatoes. We hypothesize that the large diversity in the long shelf-life landraces and derived materials can be exploited for adaptation to these new cultivation conditions. We have evaluated 12 varieties (seven landraces, three selections and two hybrids) carrying the alc mutation under open field (OF) and greenhouse (GH) cultivation, and evaluated them for 52 morphological, agronomic, chemical properties, and chemical composition descriptors. All descriptors, except six morphological ones, were variable. The variety effect was the greatest contributor to variation for most morphological traits, as well as for fruit weight, fruit shape, dry matter, and soluble solids content. However, significant environmental and genotype × environment interaction were found for 36 and 42 descriptors, respectively. Fruits from GH plants had lower weight and firmness and were less red than those from OF. On average, in GH yield was 35% lower and daily fruit weight loss in post-harvest 41% higher than in OF. However, fruits from GH had on average higher dry matter and soluble solids contents, antioxidant activity, glucose, fructose, and ascorbic acid concentrations, but lower contents in lycopene and β-carotene than those from OF. A principal components analysis clearly separated varieties according to the cultivation environment. However, the distribution pattern of varieties within each of the two clusters (GH and OF) was similar, despite the strong G × E interaction for many descriptors. Landraces from the same origin plotted in the same area of each cluster, and selections and hybrids plotted together with the landraces. The results reveal a high impact of the cultivation environment on morphological, agronomic, chemical properties, and chemical composition of Mediterranean long shelf-life traditional tomato varieties. This suggests that breeding programs specifically focused to adaptation to greenhouse conditions should be developed.

Growing Conditions Affect the Phytochemical Composition of Edible Wall Rocket (Diplotaxis erucoides)

“…In contrast, the greenhouse system may not be adequate for the commercial production of wall rocket according to our results. Heated greenhouses are used to provide a more appropriate and stable temperature for plant growth compared to field conditions, but also affect other factors such as wind, air humidity, solar radiation, the effect of rains and storms or crop management [40]. Thus, our results suggest that growing wall rocket under greenhouse conditions would enhance the homogenization of most of the traits evaluated but provide a product of lower quality, especially in terms of AA and TP contents.…”

“…Thus, it might be produced in field or greenhouse systems, although soil-less systems may also be available [23,39]. The greenhouse and field environments differ in several factors such as temperature, light intensity, air humidity or the effect of rains, among others [40]. These factors can also differ between growing cycles.…”

Participatory Plant Breeding and the Evolution of Landraces: A Case Study in the Organic Farms of the Collserola Natural Park

“…Locality was the factor that contributed most to the agronomic behavior of the varieties (yield (65.7%) and number of fruits per plant (37.3%)), and also on some quality traits (SSC (36.9%) and dry matter (38.4%)), which tend to be correlated with the agronomic behavior [33,34]. Other studies on tomato landraces have also found that the locality factor is very important for agronomic and quality traits [17,22,35], which shows landraces' sensitivity to the growing environment. On the other hand, some important quality traits (fruit weight, color, firmness, and the acid fraction of the fruit) were less affected by the environment, and were highly determined by the genotype.…”

“…For significant factors, the Student-Newman-Keuls test was used for means separation (p < 0.05). To study the relative contribution of each factor to the phenotypic variation, the total sum of squares was partitioned into the sums of squares of genotype, locality, block (locality), genotype x locality, and residual effects, as proposed by Figàs et al [22]. Phenotypic stability for yield was studied with a simple linear regression, as proposed by Eberhart and Russell [23].…”

Comparison of Vitamin C Content of Commercially Available Fresh Fruits

“…The natural production cycle is respected as it is more environmentally friendly and respectful of the environment. In addition, fruits grown outdoors have a better taste because they lose some of their flavor in a greenhouse [4].…”