Abstract: Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Mill) is an important crop in terms of its economic and nutritional value. Many factors, including cultivar, climate, geography, geochemistry, and agricultural practice, can affect its nutrient concentrations. An HJ-biplot study was performed to examine the effects of cultivar (Dorothy, Boludo, Dominique, Thomas, and Dunkan), agricultural practices, climatic factors, and their interactions. Significant differences were analyzed using a one-way ANOVA. All samples were collected and assayed at the same degree of ripeness. In the conventional and organic tomato samples, those harvested from December to April had the highest concentrations of fructose, glucose, citric acid, malic acid, ascorbic acid, protein, Na, and Mg, while those harvested in October had the highest concentrations of lycopene and hydroxycinnamic acid. There were high concentrations of Ca, P, Zn, and Cu in the no-soil tomatoes. Conventional and organic cultivation practices showed similar results with respect to the collection period, both presenting high organic compound concentrations, while high mineral concentrations seemed to correspond to the no-soil practice. No clear pattern was observed among the different cultivars, perhaps due to all the samples having been collected at the same degree of ripeness.
Reference: Hernandez, M, et al. (2014). Tomato fruit quality as influenced by the interactions between agricultural techniques and harvesting period. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science 177(3): 443-448. Online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jpln.201200642.