Agronomic performance and fruit nutritional quality of an Andean tomato collection

Abstract

Cultivated tomato provides important nutrients to the human diet. Several fruit compounds, acting alone or in combination, could be beneficial for human health. A collection of local landraces has been recovered from Andean areas of Argentina, and maintained in the Germplasm Bank of La Consulta INTA, Mendoza. These landraces have been selected by local farmers mainly for their environmental adaptation and fruit quality traits. Our goal was to establish associations among agronomic properties, fruit nutritional qualities and commercial characteristics of this Andean tomato collection. For this purpose, 32 tomato accessions and the wild species Solanum pimpinellifolium as a contrasting control were evaluated. Tomato plants were grown at the Experimental Station La Consulta INTA using a randomized block design. Analyses were performed on mature red fruit. For morpho-agronomic characterization, 19 traits were recorded. Metabolite fruit contents were evaluated by HPLC, NMR and GC-MS. All data were integrated using multiple variable analyses. Fruit size was inversely correlated with the content of free amino acids, suggesting a dilution effect. Fruit shape and size partially correlated with sugar and organic acid content. Shape and pericarp thickness were associated with organic acids, free amino acids and aromatic compounds, as well as with pH and juice acidity; although no correlation was found with soluble solids, dry matter or pericarp firmness. Color intensity of fruit showed a clear association with the increase of a few metabolites and the decrease of several aromatic compounds and alcohols. Different independent selection events would have generated different genetic constitutions, confirming that traditional agricultural habitats are fundamental reservoirs of genetic diversity. These data suggest that improvements in the nutritional value of tomato would complement agronomic properties, and that the collection of Andean tomatoes possesses interesting metabolite variability available for breeding purposes.