Yield, physicochemical quality, and antioxidant capacity of “beef” and wild tomato fruits (Solanum lycopersicum L.) as a function of the electrical conductivity of the nutrient solution

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the response of three levels of electrical conductivity (2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 dS m-1) of Steiner’s nutrient solution on the yield, physicochemical quality, and antioxidant capacity of fruits from seven tomato genotypes and wild types of tomato (kidney selections). The yield, number of fruits per cluster (NFPC), average fresh fruit weight (AFWF), color, firmness, total soluble solids (TSS), total titratable acidity (TTA), vitamin C (VC), total phenols (TP), lycopene (LY) and antioxidant capacity (AC). The use of 2.5 and 3.0 dS m-1 increased the hue angle (49.05°) and TTA (0.35 and 0.36% citric acid). Among genotypes, L-51H and L-76H showed better performance (16.80 and 16.91 kg m-2, respectively), where L-28 stood out for its values of TSS, TTA, VC, TP and AC. Regarding the wild genotypes, the EC modification did not increase the yield; however, the use of 3.0 dS m-1 allowed the best results among the wild selections were SS3 (yield, AFWF and LY) and SS5 (NFPC, VC, TP and AC). The modification of the EC did not affect the yield, however, if it affected the physicochemical quality and antioxidant capacity of the analyzed materials.