Licopene and d-carotene in tomato

The high antioxidant activity in tomato fruits is caused not only by sufficient content of vitamin C and polyphenols but also the carotenoids and the fat soluble antioxidants. Lycopene and beta-carotene are the main fat-soluble antioxidants, the consumption of which influences positively on human’s health. It is known that tomato fruits are the source of lycopene for human diet, providing up to 85% of the total lycopene in food. The breeding program for tomato cultivars with high content of carotenoids is a very important task for breeders. In our study the content of beta-carotene and lycopene was assessed in 18 tomato accessions with red, pink, yellow and orange fruits obtained in Solanaceae Breeding Laboratory at VNIISSOK. All plants were grown in experimental open field in Odintsovo region, Moscow oblast, VNIISSOK. It was revealed that the typical concentration ratio of lycopene to beta-carotene for pink and red fruits was 1.5 to 10.25, but for yellow and orange fruits was 0 to 0.63. Highest ratio was observed in red fruits in line 230-16. The highest lycopene content was found in red fruits of tree type tomato lines 198-16 and 86F1 (11.5 and 8.7 g/100g. respectively). The highest content of beta-carotene was in yellow fruits of line 53-16 F1 (4.1 mg/100g) and orange fruits of line 184-16 (6.2 mg/100g). All studied accessions with orange fruits had the higher content of beta-carotene than in standard and highest content of lycopene in this group of accessions. Thus, these fruits had the high nutritional value. The balanced content of lycopene and beta-carotene and low acidity in pink and yellow-orange tomato fruits makes these cultivars the most valuable for children’s diet and people with problems of digestive system.