Tree tomato: Underutilized vegetable for sustainable nutritional and economic security

Abstract

Tree tomato is an underutilized high-value vegetable possessing high functional value to satisfy the needs of health-conscious people. Its fruits contain a diverse range of nutrients and bioactive compounds including vitamins, minerals, dietary fibers, polyphenols, anthocyanin, and carotenoids possessing potent nutraceutical properties. The presence of a wide range of bioactive compounds makes the fruits excellent antioxidative, antiproliferative, anti-inflammatory, and anti-obese food constituents. The crop has not yet been explored to full of its potential. Germplasm conservation strategies, hybridization, micropropagation, polyploidy, genetic engineering, genome editing etc. have been successfully utilized for the development of cultivars with improved traits in many crops and can be of help for the potential improvement of tree tomatoes. Nowadays, the changing food consumption patterns have resulted in an increased interest in the consumption of tree tomatoes. Advanced technologies for the development of value-added products with minimized losses, enhanced stability and bioavailability of bioactive compounds, and optimization of processes to preserve the functionality of the product need the attention of the scientific community. This paper summaries the functional characterization of major bioactive compounds, improvement strategies, and the effect of processing on quality traits along with futuristic approaches for the potential improvement of tree tomatoes.