Background: Several tomato landraces are very popular in south-eastern Spain for their organoleptic fruit quality, but these cultivars are highly susceptible to several viruses. A breeding programme is being carried out for the introduction of virus resistances into these landraces. In the last steps of our breeding programme a high number of breeding lines must be evaluated for agronomic and organoleptic quality parameters. Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) technology shows considerable promise and is ideally suited to the requirements of breeders.
Results: Significant differences between a set of 35 tomato breeding lines, seven landraces and one commercial hybrid were observed for quality and mineral content parameters, suggesting that there are considerable levels of genetic diversity between the cultivar groups studied. Using NIRS on dry samples of tomato constitutes a feasible technique to estimate the content of several minerals (C, N, P, K, Ca, Na, Mn, Mg and Cu) according to the coefficient of determination for calibration (R(2) > 0.90). NIRS estimations of soluble solids content and titratable acidity obtained were considered useful only for general screening purposes.
Conclusions: NIRS technology may be a useful tool in the selection of lines coming out of tomato breeding programs, allowing a quick estimation of mineral content. However, the estimation of soluble solids content and titratable acidity by NIRS must be improved.
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