Yield and quality performances of organic tomato as affected by genotype and industrial processing in southern Italy

Identifying new tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) genotypes with improved technological performances is an important requisite for achieving high yield and quality of industrial produce. An open-field experiment was carried out in southern Italy in order to assess the effects of three elongated tomato hybrids oriented to ‘peeled’ chain (Max 14802, Massaro, Taylor) in terms of crop productivity and nutritional value. The hybrid Taylor showed the highest marketable yield due to the highest fruit number, whereas Massaro showed the highest processing efficiency. Among the three genotypes compared, titratable acidity and fiber were highest in Max 14802 fruits (0.45 g anhydrous citric acid·100 g-1 and 0.94 g·100 g-1 respectively), Taylor was best ranking in terms of fat and sucrose content, and Massaro achieved the highest glucose, fructose and rutin accumulation. Compared to fresh fruits, peeled tomatoes attained higher values of total and soluble solids, reducing sugars, total polyphenols (referred to fresh weight), rutin and naringenin, but had a decreased value of colour coordinate a/b ratio. No significant differences between the three tomato cultivars were recorded in terms of sensorial traits. From the present research interesting clues have arisen regarding the best performances of the hybrid Taylor in terms of fruit yield and organic acid content, and of the hybrid Massaro regarding the processing efficiency and fruit health-beneficial properties.