Method for breeding tomatoes having reduced water content and product of the method

Abstract

A method for breeding tomato plants that produce tomatoes with reduced fruit water content including the steps of crossing at least one Lycopersicon esculentum plant with a Lycopersicon spp. to produce hybrid seed, collecting the first generation of hybrid seeds, growing plants from the first generation of hybrid seeds, pollinating the plants of the most recent hybrid generation, collecting the seeds produced by the most recent hybrid generation, growing plants from the seeds of the most recent hybrid generation, allowing plants to remain on the vine past the point of normal ripening, and screening for reduced fruit water content as indicated by extended preservation of the ripe fruit and wrinkling of the fruit skin.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to a method for breeding tomatoes having reduced water content and / or with the trait of drying while still attached to the vine, and to tomatoes having reduced water content and to products of the method. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Dehydrated tomato products comprise an important portion of the tomato industry. The production of tomato pastes, ketchup and other processed tomato products is dependent on the energy-requiring steps of dehydration. The production of “sun-dried” tomato products consists of dehydrating cut tomato fruit either in the sun or in drying ovens. [0003] Dry matter content of mature tomato fruit can range from approximately 5-10% (Davies, J. N. and Hobson, G. E. 1981. The constituents of tomato fruit—the influence of environment, nutrition and genotype. CRC Critical Reviews in Food Sci and Nutr. 15:205-280), depending largely on fruit size. Generally, processing tomato cultivars produce mature fr...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention provides a method for breeding tomatoes that have reduced water content in their fruits, which can lead to reduced processing costs and improved storage ability. The method involves crossing a Lycopersicon esculentum plant with a Lycopersicon spp. plant, collecting seeds from the cross, growing plants from the seeds, and screening for reduced water content in the fruits. The resulting tomato fruits have a reduced water content and a wrinkling skin, which is generally unaccompanied by microbial spoilage. The invention also includes a tomato variety with this natural dehydration characteristic."

Problems solved by technology

However, tomatoes will generally undergo degradation if they remain on the vine after ripening.

There are disadvantages to sun-drying since it depends on weather conditions and inclement weather leads to losses.

Similarly, there are disadvantages to the use of drying ovens as these are energy consuming.

Both sun drying and oven drying may lead to losses in food quality.

Furthermore, the necessity to cut the tomato fruit in half before the drying process does not allow for the production of whole dried tomato fruit.