7

IMPROVING VITAMIN C IN TOMATO

FRUIT via LED Lamps: a greenhouse
application
Bart Mitch A. Cutamora

INTRODUCTION

Tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum Miller) otherwise known as “Kamatis”, is

an important and popular fruit vegetable grown in the Philippines. It can be eaten raw
or as an ingredient in many dishes, sauces, drinks, and mostly in salads. Tomatoes are
rich sources of vitamins A and C and folic acid and contain a wide array of beneficial
nutrients and antioxidants including alpha-lipoic acid, lycopene, choline, folic acid,
beta-carotene and lutein (Philippines Statistics Authority, 2018). The country’s
production of tomato for the past 10 years (2007 to 2016) was growing by an average
of 1.23 percent per year. In 2016, production was estimated at 210,724 metric tons
covering a total area of 16,165 hectares. (Philippines Statistics Authority, 2018)

Tomato is the top source of Vitamins A and C. It also contains significant

amount of dietary fiber, beta carotene, iron, magnesium, niacin, potassium,
phosphorus, riboflavin and thiamine. It is rich in lycopene and anti-oxidant which
destroys cancer-causing free radicals in the body. Tomato is a natural antiseptic. It
improves the skin and purifies the blood. It also helps cure cases of gout, rheumatism,
tuberculosis, high blood pressure, and sinus trouble.(Mózo, 2017)

L-ascorbate (AsA; vitamin C) is an anti- and pro-oxidant phytochemical

essential for the proper functioning of the human body. Field grown tomato fruit
(Solanum lycopersicum) contain substantial amounts of AsA. When grown in the
greenhouse, tomato fruit typically have low levels of AsA. Light is the major
regulatory abiotic factor for AsA in plants. The introduction of light emitting diodes
(LED) in horticulture provides the opportunity for improving quality of plant
products. AsA levels of tomato fruit increase with additional light applied to the plant.
In this work we examine the effects of irradiance on AsA levels of tomato fruit when
light is applied to the fruit. Detached tomato fruit were treated with different
irradiance levels provided by LEDs in a climate controlled environment. Tomato fruit
treated with 263 μmol m-2 s-1 of white light for 13 days contained 32% more AsA
than fruit kept at lower irradiances or in darkness. The light induced biosynthesis of
AsA and the role of soluble carbohydrates in AsA regulation is discussed. (Ntagkas et
al., 2016)

This study generally aims to establish a "base line" for further studies on
conservation and improvement of the ascorbic acid content of tomato. The specific 8
objectives are:
1. to determine the Vitamin C content of the tomato;
2. to enhance the quality of tomato by improving its Vitamin C content
using LED Lamps
3. to establish a good source of Vitamin C
REVIEW OF LITERATURE

General perspective of tomato crop and its societal importance

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most popular and widely
consumed vegetable crops all over the world, and high-quality yield is an essential
prerequisite for its economical success in the Saudi Arabia. Tomato has been recently
gaining attention in relation to the prevention of some human diseases. This interest is
due to the presence of carotenoids and particularly lycopene, which is an unsaturated
alkylic compound, that appears to be an active compound in the prevention of cancer,
cardiovascular risk and in slowing down cellular aging (Al-Amri, 2013).
Taxonomically, tomato belongs to the Solanaceae family. The cultivated
tomato belongs to the species Solanum lycopersicum, while Solanum
pimpinellifolium is the closest wild relative with a divergence of only 0.6% nucleotide
base pairs (The Tomato Genome et al., 2012). A range of other wild tomato relatives
are available, e.g. Solanum chmiewelskii, Solanum neorickii, Solanum chilense,
Solanum habrochaites, Solanum pennilli, Solanum juglandifolium, Solanum
ochranthum, Solanum lycopersicoides, Solanum sitiens, Solanume corneliomuelleri,
Solanum arranum and Solanum galapagense (Peralta et al., 2006). Despite the fact
that wild tomato relatives have contributed limitedly with desirable phenotypic traits
to current cultivated tomatoes, interesting alleles for future tomato breeding may still
be available in uninvestigated tomato collections(Gutierrez, 2018).
Tomato is adapted to a wide range of climatic conditions. However, it requires
a relatively cool and dry climate. The optimum temperature requirement of tomato
ranges from 21 oC -24 oC. Tomato produces good yield in some fertile and well-
drained soil rich in organic matter, particularly in sandy loam and clay loam soils with
a pH value of 5.5-8.0. (Mózo, 2017)
Tomatoes are currently an important food component globally. The tomatoes
are in fact the second largest vegetable both in terms of production and consumption
(Gutierrez, 2018). . Tomatoes are rich sources of vitamins A and C and folic acid and
contain a wide array of beneficial nutrients and antioxidants including alpha-lipoic
acid, lycopene, choline, folic acid, beta-carotene and lutein (Philippines Statistics
Authority, 2018)

Environmental Factors Affecting Ascorbic Acid Content of Tomato

Tomato fruits, when harvested either for immediate use or far the market,
show gre.at variability within a variety in ascorbic acid concentration, ranging from 7
to well ova 40 milligrams per 100 grams of fresh tissue (29, 17, 16,8,4'). In some
rather rare instances, these differences may be due to genetic causes, permitting the
possible isolation, perpetuation and even building up through seed progenies of strains
producing fruit of relatively high ascorbic acid content (16, 8, 9). Most investigators,
however, are of the opinion that intra-varietal differences are caused primarily by
environmental effects, either on the plant as a whole or on the fruits during its
development to maturity or while ripening (17,34,24,7,18,41,36,9). (Murneek et al.,
1954)
Light: Of the many factors that make up the environment, light intensity and,
to some extent, duration have been singled out as having a predominant role in
ascorbic acid production in fruits and other aerial parts of plants (30, 1, 18, 21, 34, 19,
40, 26, 9). It is not quite clear whether all or most of the ascorbic acid found in the
 tomato at the time of harvesting is produced within the fruit or whether a portion, at
leaves, is translocated into it from the leaves and possibly other parts of the plant, thus
indicating a dual origin of this vitamin (1,30,21,41,19). Most of the evidence points to
a more or less direct relationship between exposure of fruit to light and its ascorbic
acid content.(Murneek et al., 1954).

Photometric method of Vitamin C in Tomato

Vitamins are organic compounds required in small quantities in the diet to
maintain various metabolic reactions in tissues. Deficiency of vitamins in foods leads
to several deficiency syndromes and diseases in humans and animals (Firdous et al.,
2017). Vitamins are classified as fat soluble (A, D, E, and K) and water soluble (C
and B group) vitamins. Most of the water soluble vitamins form coenzymes that
participate in a variety of biochemical reactions while only one fat soluble vitamin (K)
has been identified to function as coenzyme. These water soluble vitamins are
excreted in urine and they are not toxic to the body and they are not stored in the body
in large quantities except vitamin B (Firdous et al., 2017). An intake of 60-70mg
vitamin C per day will meet the adult requirement. The deficiency of ascorbic acid
results in scurvy. This disease is characterized by spongy and sore gums, loose teeth,
anemia and swollen joints. Ascorbic acid as such is not toxic, but dehydroascorbic
acid (oxidized form of ascorbic acid) is toxic. Further oxalate is a major metabolite of
vitamin C. Oxalate has been implicated in the formation of kidney stones. Hence
mega doses of ascorbic acid may lead to oxalate poisoning and kidney stone
formation (Firdous et al., 2017).
Fruits like tomatoes contain good quantities of sugars and carboxylic acids. A
study of interference caused by these substances has been made and it is inferred that
these substances do not cause interference. The results collected from the proposed
colorimetric method are compared with those obtained from the standard volumetric
method involving DCPIP reagent. It is found that the precision and accuracy of the
new method are as good as those of DCPIP method and hence the proposed method
could be readily implemented to assay ascorbic acid in real samples (Firdous et al.,
2017).
MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this study the Marglobe variety of tomato will be used for most of the tests.
In a few cases other varieties of tomatoes were used for comparison or because of
greater availability. The plants will be grown in the greenhouse. Accepted greenhouse
and garden practices were used in soil fertilization, training the plants, pollination of
flowers and harvesting the crop. When "hormone" sprays were given to increase fruit
set and size, they were applied either once a week in water solution to open and
previously pollinated flowers or to whole plants, barring the terminal pares. Light, in
general, was determined by a LED Lamp and expressed in gramcalories/cm.2 Local
differences in light were measured by means of a Portable photometer and expressed
in foot-candles.

Ascorbic acid assays were usually made on eight carefully matched fruits. Not
only the stage of maturity but also size was taken into consideration, since it has been
shown that there is an inverse correlation between size and ascorbic acid in tomatoes
(28, 8, 31 , 38) (Murneek et al., 1954). After discarding the unusable hard stem end
portion, the fruit was quartered, a slice was cut from each segment, including
proportional parts of the skin and the seeds. The material, aggregating 200 grams in
each case, was macerated at once in Metaphosphoric Sulphuric acid mix by a Waring
blender for exactly 3 minutes. Repeated determinations showed that 7 to 12 percent
loss in ascorbic acid occurred in one hour from quartered tomato fruit segments.
Hence cutting of the material was done in 3 to 5 minutes. The macerated tissue extract
was brought to definite volume and submitted immediately co analysis by means of
the 4, 6-dichloro-phenolindophenol dye reduction procedure (5). Duplicate and
triplicate determinations were run in all cases. To facilitate the work, two and
sometimes three persons participated in preparation of the material and in chemical
assay.
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