Abstract:
The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of the mutant alleles alcobaça (nor A ), ripening inhibitor (rin), and old gold crimson (og c ), in heterozygosity or homozygosity, on the expression of color and on the postharvest quality of fruit of experimental tomato hybrids. Fourteen hybrids with contrasting genotypic constitutions in the nor A , rin, and og c loci were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with four replicates. The following fruit postharvest quality traits were evaluated: firmness in the breaker stage, color, and soluble solids content. The rin +/rin and nor +/nor A genotypes increased firmness of tomato fruit at harvest (breaker stage). The rin + /rin genotypes displayed the worse internal fruit color. There was a positive effect of og c+ /og c in improving the internal color of rin + /rin and nor + /nor A fruit, making the color similar to that of the normal genotypes. The combination of the og c /og c rin + /rin nor + /nor A genes is effective to improve tomato fruit firmness, besides maintaining or improving internal color.
Index terms:
Solanum lycopersicum; alcobaça; nonripening; old gold crimson; plant breeding; ripening inhibitor