Cherry and Fresh Market Tomatoes: Differences in Chemical, Morphological, and Sensory Traits and Their Implications for Consumer Acceptance

Joan Casals,Josep Sabaté,Joan Simó,Ana Rivera,Roser Romero Del Castillo

doi:10.3390/agronomy9010009

Abstract

The tomato commercial groups cherry and fresh market, mainly classified by fruit size, have clearly segregated markets. We aimed to estimate the variation within and between these groups and to analyze factors that impact consumer acceptance. To this end, we studied the chemical profile (dry matter, sugars, acids) and fruit morphology (Tomato Analyzer) of 63 accessions grown in 2 environments (open air/soil culture; greenhouse/soilless culture). To identify traits underlying consumer preferences, we used a trained panel for quantitative descriptive sensory analyses and consumer surveys on a subset of genotypes. Our results confirm the higher content of reducing sugars (fructose, glucose), soluble solids, dry matter, and glutamic acid in the cherry group and the important effects of environment and genotype-by-environment interactions on fruit quality traits. The diversity within cherry for chemical composition is 1.4-fold to 2.1-fold that of fresh market. Differences in fruit morphological traits (weight, shoulder height, height/width relation) were highly related to fruit size, but no differences between groups were found for the internal structure of the fruit (locular relative content). Consumers value sweetness, glutamic acid, titratable acidity, and juiciness in cherry, and sweetness and taste intensity in the fresh market group. The implications for plant breeding are discussed.

Highlights

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is an economically important species, being the second horticultural crop in terms of area cultivated [1] and grown in nearly every country in the world [2].It is an important source of nutrients and nutraceutical compounds in the human diet [3].Three gene pools have been described, the wild ancestor S. pimpinellifolium, the transitional formS. lycopersicum var. cerasiforme, and the cultivated species S. lycopersicum var. lycopersicum [4]
The values of fructose and glucose for the S. pimpinellifolium accession (LA2904, TGRC) were lower than for cherry but higher than for the other groups; this accession had the highest values of solids content (SSC), TA, and dry matter
Few differences were found between fresh market and the rin ripening mutant, except in glutamic acid and TA

Summary

Introduction

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is an economically important species, being the second horticultural crop in terms of area cultivated [1] and grown in nearly every country in the world [2].It is an important source of nutrients and nutraceutical compounds in the human diet [3].Three gene pools have been described, the wild ancestor S. pimpinellifolium, the transitional formS. lycopersicum var. cerasiforme, and the cultivated species S. lycopersicum var. lycopersicum [4]. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is an economically important species, being the second horticultural crop in terms of area cultivated [1] and grown in nearly every country in the world [2]. It is an important source of nutrients and nutraceutical compounds in the human diet [3]. Cerasiforme, and the cultivated species S. lycopersicum var. Plant breeders can benefit from the genetic diversity in economically important traits in the other 4 tomato wild relatives (S. neorickii, S. chmielewskii, S. habrochaites, S. pennellii) that can be crossed with S. lyc. The divergent breeding ideotypes applied for market specialization and histories of the groups has led to their genetic differentiation [6,7]

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