Multi-perspective evaluation of phytonutrients – Case study on tomato landraces for fresh consumption

Abstract

The goal of our work is to identify a combination of methodologies, which is proven to be capable to the multidimensional evaluation of the phytonutrient content of the investigated tomato landraces for fresh consumption. Flavor and phytonutrient levels in modern tomato varieties have shown significant decrease in the last decades. Several authors suggest re-introducing old varieties, gene bank accessions and/or landraces to reverse these trends. We use a combination of the leave-one-out cross-validation methodology of sum of ranking difference (SRD) values and significant differences by post hoc Wilcoxon matched pairs test to evaluate various tomato landraces and a commercial variety. Our statistical analysis provides a theoretical best variety to measure against. This defined procedure clearly identifies significant differences among the phytonutrient profiles allowing for grouping by favorable characteristics. The tomato is used here due to the complex collection of phytochemicals, antioxidants, and phytonutrients effecting nutrition and consumer preference.

Keywords

• Phytochemical
• Antioxidant
• Tomato
• Landrace
• Sum of ranking difference (SRD)