Influence of high lycopene varieties and organic farming on the production and quality of processing tomato

Abstract

[EN] The effect of conventional integrated pest management and organic farming production systems on theagronomic performance and quality of standard and high lycopene tomato cvs. has been evaluated fortwo years in two of the main processing tomato producing areas of Spain (Extremadura and Navarra).As an average, the production under organic farming was on average 36% lower than in conventionalintegrated pest management. Organic farming tended show reduced contents of citric and glutamic acid.Although the contents in sugars were not significantly affected, the ratios sucrose equivalents to cit-ric and glutamic acid increased. Nevertheless, a strong influence of the environment and interactionswere detected and under certain conditions (e.g. Extremadura), organic farming may increase the con-tents in glucose and fructose. The levels of lycopene were not affected by the cultivation system, whilebeta-carotene contents were higher under organic farming. High lycopene cvs. Kalvert and ISI-24424' registered the highest lycopene levels, but with 27.6 and 28.1% lower production levels compared to H-9036', the cv. with the best agronomic performance. Kalvert , with high accumulation of sugars andhigh ratios sucrose equivalents to citric and glutamic acid and high lycopene contents would be an idealmaterial for supplying quality markets. H-9997' with intermediated levels of lycopene accumulationproved to be a good material combining production levels and functional quality. CXD-277' offered thehigher values in variables related with organoleptic quality with intermediate lycopene accumulationbut with lower production.