Yield and post-harvest quality of tomato hybrids heterozygous at the loci alcobaça, old gold-crimson or high pigment.

The effects of the fruit ripening mutant gene alcobaça (alc) and color development mutants, old gold-crimson (ogc) and high pigment (hp), on yield and post-harvest quality of tomato fruits were investigated. Five tomato hybrids were obtained by crossing near isogenic lines with Flora-Dade background [Flora-Dade (alc+/alc+ ogc+/ogc+ hp+/hp+), TOM-559 (alc/alc ogc+/ogc+ hp+/hp+), TOM-591 (alc/alc ogc/ogc hp+/hp+), TOM-593 (alc/alc ogc+/ogc+ hp/hp), and TOM-589 (alc/alc ogc/ogc hp/hp)] with the pollen parent line Mospomorist (alc+/alc+ ogc+/ogc+ hp+/hp+). Hybrid fruit was harvested at the breaker stage and stored on shelves at 15oC and 60% relative humidity for 16 days, and then evaluated for firmness, development of red color, and carotenoid contents. The different genotypic combinations at the loci alc, ogc and hp had no effect on fruit yield. The alc+/alc hybrid genotype significantly increased fruit firmness and significantly delayed the development of red color in maturing fruit. Simultaneous usage of ogc+/ogc and hp+/hp promoted an increase in the red color and lycopene content of alc+/alc hybrids, but did not have any additional effect on fruit firmness.