PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF FOUR TOMATO CULTIVARS GROWN IN NIGERIA.

The physicochemical characteristics of tomato fruits from three commercial cultivars available in the local market were compared with a Wild cultivar. The results showed that the Ibadan-Local and Wild cultivars had a higher fruit yield than Ife-1 and Roma-VF cultivars. The Wild cultivar has a high skin and seed content. The shape of the fruits varied from spherical to pear-like. Physicochemical properties such as specific gravity, pH, titratable acidity, ash and refractive index did not vary significantly while total solids, longitudinal (stem→blossom end) and cross-sectional diameters (transverse diameter), vitamin C and reducing sugars were significantly different (P > 0.05) among the cultivars investigated. The results showed that the Wild cultivar has attributes (i.e., physicochemical characteristics) comparable to commercial cultivars to recommend it to breeders for cultivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]