DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2017.v05i03.003

Pages: 148-152

Carotenoids are natural fat-soluble pigments that are common in colorful plants. They act as provitamin A and beneficial for human health, especially for the vision. Lycopene and beta-carotene which belong to carotenoids are quantitative traits that found as main pigments in tomatao. This experiment was conducted to study segregation of lycopene, beta-carotene, chlorophyll content and color values (L a b) in F2 population of tangerine and red fruit tomato. Tangerine tomato (Jinzhu No.1- P1) accumulated the high level of beta-carotene in contrast with red tomato (TTD1003A- P2) whereas red tomato accumulated the high level of lycopene. Tangerine and red tomato crossing produced orange pigmented F1 fruits with higher lycopene content and beta-carotene similar to those noted in to P1 parental line. The average lycopene content in F2 generation was 0.203 mg/100 g Fresh weight (FW) while the beta-carotene content was 0.279 mg/100 g FW. Beta-carotene content was ranged from 0 to 0.57 mg/100 g FW. Mid-parent heterosis of lycopene, beta-carotene, total chlorophyll and color values (L a b) were -59.08 44.24 -41.18 -5.28 -16.22 and -7.97 %, respectively. For distribution testing, only beta-carotene and a-value fit a normal distribution model (Shapiro-Wilk test: P-value; 0.131 and 0.243, respectively). The best estimate for lycopene content was obtained using a/b ratio, r = 0.772. Beta-carotene had a linear positive correlation with L-value and b-value (r = 0.373 ** and r = 0.392**). The results of this study can be utilized for high nutrition tomato breeding programs, as present commercial tomato cultivars focused on red color for the selection criterion, regardless the lycopene content and other properties of consuming.