Open Field Trial of Genetically Modified Parthenocarpic Tomato: Seedlessness and Fruit Quality - Genetic Engineering: Recent Developments in Applications - page 154

Table 1. Mean values ( ± SE) of marketable and unmarketable yields per plant, number of fruits per plant, and
fruit weight for two transgenic parthenocarpic lines (Ri4 and Ri5), the untransformed control (UC 82) and the
commercial F1 cultivar Allflesh.
The two parthenocarpic lines produced a higher number of fruits with respect
to the untransformed control UC 82 (Table 1). The increased fruit number per
plant was most likely due to an improved fruit set of GM parthenocarpic plants
compared to the untransformed control (UC 82). The two parthenocarpic lines
produced fruits of smaller size (Table 1). The reduction of fruit weight observed in
the two parthenocarpic lines is most likely due to the increased number of fruits
per parthenocarpic plant. The hybrid Allflesh gave a number of fruits that was not
different from the numbers of both transgenic lines and of the cultivar UC 82.
The unmarketable yield, represented by green and rotten fruits, was not differ-
ent between the four genotypes (Table 1).
The shape of the tomatoes, the puffiness fruit index and the number of locules
per fruit did not differ between the genotypes tested (Table 2). The two transgenic
lines Ri4 and Ri5 produced a significantly lower percentage of seeded fruit and a
significantly reduced number of seeds per fruit compared to the untransformed
control and the modern F1 hybrid Allflesh (Table 2 and Fig. 2). This shows that
the fruits obtained from the transgenic lines were parthenocarpic.
Table 2. Mean values ( ± SE) of fruit shape index (polar/equatorial ratio), puffiness index (1-3), number of
locules, percentage of fruits with seeds and number of seeds per fruit in the transgenic parthenocarpic lines (Ri4
and Ri5), the untransformed control (UC 82) and the commercial F1 cultivar Allflesh.