Assessment of Ascorbic Acid, Polyphenols, Flavonoids, Anthocyanins and Carotenoids Content in Tomato Fruits

Abstract

The increased interest in organic tomatoes production demands breeders to develop new cultivars, which besides suitability in low-input production system and marketable quality, have to exhibit high nutritional value, including health-promoting compounds. In this respect, this paper aimed to assess and compare the nutritional value of four Romanian tomato cultivars, two with determinate growth (‘Argeș 11’ and ‘Argeș 123’) and two with indeterminate growth (‘Costate 21’ and ‘Ștefanești 22’), created and recommended for organic production in open field and protected cultivation. The tomato cultivars were laid out in a high plastic tunnel crop and the tomato fruits were evaluated as chemical composition, being determined the following parameters: moisture, ash, soluble solids, pH, acidity and content in some antioxidant compounds, such as vitamin C, polyphenols, flavonoids, anthocyanins, lycopene and β-carotene. Considering some chemical parameters important in revealing tomato flavor, such as soluble solids, pH and acidity, ‘Ștefanești 22’ cultivar showed the best ratio among them. The differences in antioxidant composition among cultivars were not statistically significant (P>0.05) for most of the analyzed parameters, with the exception of lycopene content which showed significant variation. Thus, ‘Costate 21’ showed the highest amount of lycopene within indeterminate cultivars (17.49 mg 100 g^-1 FW), while ‘Argeș 11’ showed the highest amount of lycopene within determinate cultivars (13.92 mg 100 g^-1 FW). According to the nutritional value of cultivars assessed in this study, ‘Costate 21’ is the best recommendation for greenhouse cultivation while ‘Argeș 11’ is the best recommendation for open field cultivation.