Fruit Quality and Bioactive Compounds with Antioxidant Activity of Tomatoes Grown On-Farm: Comparison of Organic and Conventional Management Systems

Abstract

Replicated field trials at three matched farm pairs in southern and central Taiwan were established in October 2004 and 2005 to compare fruit quality and nutritional parameters of tomatoes grown on-farm under organic versus conventional management systems in tropical and subtropical environments. Two processing tomato varieties were evaluated using a randomized complete block design at each of the farms. Aggregation of farms by type (organic vs conventional) across two years resulted in no significant differences between organic and conventional farming systems for all tomato fruit parameters measured, including quality (pH, soluble solids, acidity, and color), content of bioactive compounds with antioxidant activity (beta-carotene, lycopene, ascorbic acid, and total phenolics), and antioxidant activity. This study indicated no consistent effect of the farming system on tomato fruit parameters. Farm management skills combined with site-specific effects contributed to high lycopene levels, and the choice of variety significantly influenced the content of bioactive compounds, particularly ascorbic acid and total phenolics.

Nutritional composition and antioxidant activity of four tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) farmer’ varieties in Northeastern Portugal homegardens

“…Ascorbic acid was the most abundant antioxidant in all the samples, and the highest concentration was found in the sample of the so-called heart tomato (18.56 mg/100 g fw). The values found in the present study were similar to the ones reported on varieties from Italy (Ilahy et al, 2011) and Taiwan (Juroszek et al, 2009) (both in the order of 20 mg/100 g fw), but lower than the values found in Czech Republic (21.7-25.8 mg/100 g fw, Kotkov et al, 2011) and Spanish (39-163 mg/100 g fw; Guil-Guerrero and Rebolloso-Fuentes, 2009) varieties. The role of ascorbic acid in the prevention of diseases related to oxidative damage occurs due to its ability to neutralize the action of free radicals in the biological systems (Borguini and Torres, 2009).…”

“…β-Carotene was found in lower amounts than tocopherols, while lycopene was present in higher concentrations; the highest levels of carotenoids were observed in the sample from round tomato (0.51 and 9.49 mg/100 g fw for β-carotene and lycopene, respectively). The β-carotene levels found in the studied Portuguese farmer' varieties were similar to the concentration reported on varieties from Italy (Ilahy et al, 2011) and Taiwan (Juroszek et al, 2009) (~0.5 mg/100 g fw). Nevertheless, lycopene values observed in the studied samples were higher than the ones described for fresh and lyophilized samples from Taiwan (3 and 2 mg/100 g fw, respectively; Chang et al, 2006), but slightly lower than in Italian varieties (~10 mg/100 g fw; Ilahy et al, 2011).…”

“…There are studies on nutritional value and antioxidant properties of tomato from different origins such as Czech Republic (Kotkov et al, 2009(Kotkov et al, , 2011, France (Gautier et al, 2008), Italy (Ilahy et al, 2011), Spain (Guil-Guerrero andRebolloso-Fuentes, 2009;Vallverdú-Queralt et al, 2011) and Taiwan (Chang et al, 2006;Juroszek et al, 2009). Nevertheless, still now there are no reports on Portuguese varieties, moreover on Portuguese local varieties grown for a long time in homegardens.…”

Plant polyphenol content, soil fertilization and agricultural management: a review

“…Total average phenolic content was slightly higher in organic agriculture in a 3-year study (1 and 7% for the two investigated cultivars) [70]. In a 2-year study, on two cultivars, no differences were pointed out [71] and on four cultivars for 3 years no differences were found apart from the behavior of one cultivar along 2 years (one case higher under organic cultivation and in the second higher under conventional cultivation) [72]. Individual phenolic compounds of the four cultivars were analyzed using HPLC-DAD-MS/MS, and 30 polyphenols were identified and quantified; the cultivation method had generally minor impact on the content of phenolic compounds with respect to growing year and cultivar.…”

Tomato Fruit Quality from Organic and Conventional Production

“…Farm management skills combined with site-specific effects contribute to high vitamin C levels, and the choice of variety significantly influences the content of ascorbic acid [32]. The variation in vitamin C content in tomatoes depends mainly on environmental conditions.…”