Long shelf life tomato hybrids with improved fruit color intensity

Abstract

The objective of this work was to evaluate the feasibility of simultaneous use of the ripening mutant (nor^A or rin) and color enhancing mutant genes (og^c and/or hp) in tomato hybrids with different genotypic backgrounds and genotype combinations. The trial was set up in a plastic house, with in RCB design with 20 genotypes and 3 replications. Ripening mutant genotypes nor⁺/nor^A and rin⁺/rin reduced early yields, but not total yields. Genotypes bearing one or more mutants nor^A, rin, og^c or hp showed improved shelf life in comparison to that of normal genotypes. The constitution rin⁺/rin showed the poorest internal color among the genotypes tested. There was a positive effect of og^c+/og^c, ogc/ogc and/or hp⁺/hp on the internal fruit color of normal nor⁺/nor^A and rin⁺/rin genotypes, but the effect in rin⁺/rin genotypes was not enough as to insure a final color similar to that of normal genotypes. Genotypic constitutions og^c+/og^c and og^c/og^c, in the og^c locus, showed similar positive effects on both internal color and color of placentary jelly. The genotypic constitutions nor⁺/nor^A og^c+/og^c or nor⁺/nor^A og^c+/og^c hp⁺/hp were deemed the most promising genotypic combinations to attain improvements in both fruit shelf life and internal color.