Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Analysis of the citric, tartaric and oxalic acid amounts showed that citric acid
was the most abundant (Table 4). Citric acid content was significantly higher
in Allflesh compared to cv. UC 82. The two lines Ri4 and Ri5 had intermediate
amounts not significantly different from each other, although Ri4 had a higher
content than UC 82. Tartaric acid content did not show any significant difference
between the tomatoes produced by the four genotypes tested. Oxalic acid content
differed only in transgenic line Ri5.
β
-carotene content was significantly higher in
the tomatoes of the two transgenic parthenocarpic lines, followed by UC 82 and
Allflesh. Vitamin C, lycopene and tomatine did not show any significant differ-
ence between the four genotypes tested.
Table 4.
Mean values ( ± SE) of citric acid, tartaric acid, oxalic acid, vitamin C (mg/100 g d.w.),
β
-carotene and
lycopene (
µ
g g-1 d.w.), and tomatine (mg g-1 d.w.) detected in the four genotypes tested.
The total antioxidant capacity was rather similar in all four genotypes with
Allflesh having the highest value which differed significantly only from that of
Ri4 line (Table 5). The difference in the total antioxidant activity was attributable
to the hydrophilic phase. In fact, hydrophilic and total TEAC were similar both
as values and as trend, whereas the antioxidant activity of the lipophilic matrix
showed no significant difference between the four genotypes tested and with val-
ues so low that they barely contribute to the overall antioxidant capacity. The
content of total polyphenols was not significantly different.
Table 5.
Mean values ( ± SE) of total trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC-
µ
mol g-1 f.w.), hydrophilic
and lypophilic phases, and total polyphenols (mg gallic acid g-1 f.w.) detected in the four genotypes tested.
In conclusion, tomatoes (UC 82) genetically modified for parthenocarpy,
grown under open field conditions, show a fruit yield per plant identical to their
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