Quality of fruits in MEXICAN tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) landraces

Mexico is a center of domestication and diversification of tomatoes, with various landrace cultivated populations and wild varieties, but the documentation is poor in terms of their physical, chemical and nutritional characteristics. Thirteen accessions were collected and then sown and transplanted in greenhouse conditions under a randomized complete block design with four replications. This process was performed in order to evaluate the lycopene content, ascorbic acid and other physicochemical characteristics, as well as the effect of storage conditions on lycopene loss of a sample of tomato fruits native from different regions of Mexico. The analysis of variance shows significant differences (P < 0.05) among accessions for titratable acidity, pH, lycopene on wet and dry basis, in the CIE chromaticity coordinates L, a b, and in the maturity index. GTO-11, OAX-115, PH-102 and PH-96 accessions stood out for their lycopene content on wet and dry basis with values above 20 and 300 mg 100 g^-1, respectively. Lycopene content in samples of ground tomato fruits decreased after storing them at -20^oC; it also decreased in the scalded samples immersed in boiling water.