Changes in nutraceutical quality of tomato under different organic substrates

Yield and nutraceutical quality of Sahel tomato cultivar under shade net was evaluated using different mixtures of organic substrates in Coahuila, northern Mexico. The treatments consisted of mixtures using sand (S), vermicompost (VC), solarized bovine manure (SB), agricultural soil (AS) and mineralized compost (MC). The treatments were: T1 (S:VC, 80:20), T2 (S:SB, 80:20), T3 (S:SB:AS, 80:15:05), T4 (S:VC:AS, 80:15:05), T5 (S:MC, 80:20), and a control treatment T6 (S, 100%) with Steiner solution. Yield results showed that the best organic treatments were T5 and T4 with 3.48 and 3.33 kg plant(-1), respectively; while the highest yield was in control (T6) with 3.71 kg plant(-1). The highest phenolic content in the organic treatment of fruits was 56.94 mg equivalent of gallic acid per 100 g in fresh weight for T5, while the treatment with chemical fertilization obtained 49.82. The greatest antioxidant capacity was obtained inT4, with 478.34 mu M equivalent of Trolox/100 g fresh weight. Two colors were evaluated (yellow and red) corresponding to two ripeness phases. Lycopene content in tomatoes was in average 32% higher in the red colored fruits than in the yellow ones, with 3.12 and 2.24 mg lycopene 100 g pulp(-1) values, respectively. For the red ones, treatment T5 showed the highest value (3.52) and in yellow ones T1 reported 2.35, while T2 presented the lowest values for both colors. Organic fertilizers based on S:VC can induce good amounts of lycopene in fruits of both colors, as well as improve phenols and antiOX.