Breeding potential of local tomato populations for beta-carotene and vitamin C

Abstract

Samples of 25 entirely different autochthonous tomato varieties and local tomato populations originated from the area of the former Yugoslavia, were investigated. The content of beta-carotene and vitamin C of the fruits in mature stage, was studied. In order to determine the genetic divergence between populations, the hierarchical cluster analysis was applied for forming dendrogram and cluster groups. The results showed that there was a great difference in the content of vitamin C from 18.3 mg% in the local population Azanjski zuti to 34.7mg% in the very old population Beogradsko sunce. The differences were even greater in beta-carotene content, from 0.75 mg% in the populations Volovsko srce and Domaci skopski up to the extraordinary 7.66 mg% in the local population Paradajz tresnja of orange fruit colour. We also recorded the presence of a high degree of genetic divergence in different tomato genotypes. The dendrogram of phenotypic distances for both traits was composed of 5 clusters. This highly significant material could be successfully used in tomato breeding programmes to select genotypes for high content of both vitamins.