Variation for Antioxidant Activity and Antioxidants in Tomato

Abstract

<jats:p>Tomato (<jats:italic>Lycopersicon esculentum</jats:italic> Mill.) is among the most widely consumed vegetables worldwide and an important source of certain antioxidants (AO) including lycopene, β-carotene, and vitamin C. Improvement of tomato for content of AO and overall antioxidant activity (AOA) could potentially benefit human health in many countries. We evaluated 50 <jats:italic>L. esculentum</jats:italic> and three <jats:italic>L. pimpinellifolium</jats:italic> (L.) Mill. entries for contents of lycopene, β-carotene, ascorbic acid, total phenolics, and two assays for antioxidant activity [anti-radical power (ARP) and inhibition of lipid peroxidation (ILP)] for 2 years during the same period in south Taiwan. We detected high levels of genetic diversity for the AO and AOA measured in this study. Group means of the <jats:italic>L. pimpinellifolium</jats:italic> entries were significantly higher than <jats:italic>L. esculentum</jats:italic> group means for ARP, ILP, lycopene, ascorbic acid, phenolics, and soluble solids concentration, suggesting that introgression of alleles from <jats:italic>L</jats:italic>. <jats:italic>pimpinellifolium</jats:italic> may have potential to improve cultivated tomato for these traits. Ranking of entries for ILP and ARP were consistent between years, particularly for those entries with the highest means and these assays could be adopted by tomato breeders. Results from ILP and ARP assays were highly correlated (<jats:italic>r</jats:italic> = 0.82<jats:sup>**</jats:sup>) and it would be unnecessary to use both assays for tomato. Lycopene, β-carotene, ascorbic acid, soluble solids, and total phenolics were all positively correlated with ARP. Among AO, total phenolics content was most closely associated with ARP (<jats:italic>r</jats:italic> = 0.90<jats:sup>**</jats:sup>) and ILP (<jats:italic>r</jats:italic> = 0.83<jats:sup>**</jats:sup>); this suggests that phenolics make a major contribution to AOA in tomato fruit. Fruit size was negatively correlated with ARP (<jats:italic>r</jats:italic> = -0.74<jats:sup>**</jats:sup>) and ILP (<jats:italic>r</jats:italic> = -0.71<jats:sup>**</jats:sup>), indicating that combining large fruit size and high AOA will be challenging.</jats:p>

Performance of Solanum habrochaites LA1777 introgression line hybrids for marketable tomato fruit yield in Asia

“…Fruit set was measured on 3-5 random plants per plot and percent fruit set was calculated as the (fruit number on main stem clusters 2-6) / (number of flowers on clusters 2-6) · 100. Fruit solids was measured by refractometer and estimated as Brix8 (Hanson et al 2004) and Brix8-yield (BY) was calculated as MY · (Brix8/100) (Bernacchi et al 1998;Gur and Zamir, 2004).…”

“…Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is the most economically important vegetable in the world (Global Horticulture Assessment 2005), grown on over four million hectares worldwide (FAO 2006) and an important source of vitamin A in human diets (Hanson et al 2004). However, average tomato yields in most tropical and subtropical countries of SubSaharan Africa, Southeast and South Asia are relatively low and often below ten tons per hectare while average yields in temperate countries usually exceed 30 t/ha (FAO 2006).…”

Integrated bioinformatics to decipher the ascorbic acid metabolic network in tomato

“…Nevertheless, it has also a fundamental importance in plants acting as an antioxidant against a wide variety of biotic and abiotic stresses (Gallie 2013), as a modulator in cell signaling (Hemavathi et al 2011) and as a cofactor in different processes (Chen and Gallie 2004;Kotchoni et al 2009). Tomato is one of the most important vegetable sources of ascorbic acid (AsA) in many countries (Hanson et al 2004). Recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for AsA differs per country, ranging from 40 to 100 mg/day (Troesch et al 2012).…”

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

“…Cultivars such as ''DoubleRich'', with a high vitamin C content, or the ''high pigment'' cultivars with increased carotenoid contents are well known in the tomato processing industry (Lenucci et al 2007). Several tomato mutants with high carotenoid contents have also been identified, but poor agronomic performance and/or low organoleptic quality have limited their use (Hanson et al 2004;Stevens and Rick 1986), which makes it is necessary to identify new sources of variation.…”