Journal of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology

  • Year: 2010
  • Volume: 19
  • Issue: 1

Antioxidant Composition of Red and Orange Cultivars of Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicon L): A Comparative Evaluation

  • Author:
  • Shweta Walia1, Meenakshi Singh1, Charanjit Kaur1,, Raj Kumar2, Subodh Joshi2
  • Total Page Count: 3
  • DOI:
  • Page Number: 95 to 97

1Division of Post Harvest Technology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110 012, India.

2Division of Vegetable Science, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, 110 012, India.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: charanjitkaur6@gmail.com

Online published 20 December 2009.

Abstract

Fourteen commercial cultivars of tomato were analyzed for their antioxidant composition. There was significant difference (p<0.05) in lycopene and phenolic contents between red and yellow cultivars. Red cultivars had higher lycopene content (2.735 to 6.552 mg 100g−1) than yellow cultivars (0.769 to 1.238 mg 100g−1). Mean total polyphenolic content and total antioxidant activity in red cultivars was also higher than those in yellow cultivars. Overall cherry tomatoes had highest phenolic content and appeared to be a promising cultivar in terms of their health promoting effects. The results highlight an existing unexploited variability in yellow tomato to improve their antioxidant properties.

Keywords

tomato, lycopene, phenols, FRAP, ascorbic acid