Carotenoids in mature green and ripe red fruits of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) grown under different levels of irrigation

Abstract

The effect of water deficit on concentrations of carotenoids was investigated in ripening tomatoes using HPLC-PDA. Fifteen different tomato cultivars were grown under three levels of water supply and unripe and fully-ripe fruits were harvested at different stages. Water deficit significantly affected several morphological and fruit yield-related parameters. In unripe tomato fruits, the relative concentrations of xanthophyll cycle carotenoids, e.g., violaxanthin and antheraxanthin, were significantly increased at the expense of ?-carotene upon limiting the water supply. In ripe fruits, nutritionally-relevant lycopene, ?-carotene and lutein levels were broadly independent of water deficit when considering all 15 cultivars, although significant variations were observed among fruits from different genotypes. Our study highlights the importance of careful genotype selection for the production of tomatoes rich in nutritionally-relevant compounds like lycopene and ?-carotene.

Impact of moderate heat stress on the biochemical and physiological responses of the invasive waterweed Elodea canadensis (Michx. 1803)

“…Obviously, the plants exposed to mild or moderate HS exhibited an increase in activity of the enzymatic antioxidant systems. Similar results were observed in plants exposed to other moderate environmental stresses, such as water [36,37] and salt stress [20].…”

Fruit quality of cherry and large fruited tomato genotypes as influenced by water deficit

“…Increase of both sugars and organic acids could improve tomato fruit quality under water stress (Nahar et al, 2011). Different secondary metabolites, including carotenoids, are responsible for the nutrient and health values of tomato fruits and also are genotype-specific (Schweiggert et al, 2017). Comparison between cherry and large fruits showed that in both optimal and drought conditions fruits of cherry tomato had a higher total carotenoid content than large fruits, mainly due to higher content of lycopene and phytoene (Tables 4 and 5).…”

Transcriptomic analysis reveals the regulatory mechanisms of messenger RNA (mRNA) and long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) in response to waterlogging stress in rye (Secale cereale L.)

“…In our current study, we observed that upregulated DE-lncRNA target genes and 2 DE-mRNAs were enriched in carotenoid biosynthesis, which is responsible for synthesising carotenoids during plant stress (Additional file 10 D, Additional file 9 C ). Based on this result, we conclude that WS increases carotenoid levels in rye and is potentially associated with the activation of the xanthophyll cycle [ 6 , 36 ].…”