Hybrid grape tomato developed by Embrapa Vegetables is a record-breaker in lycopene content

Date:08-24-2018

The cherry or grape type of tomatoes are recognized by consumers for the sweetness of their prolonged small fruits, but research by Embrapa Vegetables has developed a hybrid tomato that, in addition to being sweet, presents an extra added benefit for consumers that cannot be detected by the palate: the lycopene content.

BRS Zamir integrates a new generation of hybrid tomatoes that are enriched with lycopene, a very efficient antioxidant to fight free radicals in the organism and a pigment that gives tomato fruits their typical red color. While other commercial hybrids in the grape segment in the Brazilian market make for 40 to 90 micrograms per gram of fruit (µg/g), BRS Zamir's lycopene content can reach up to 144 µg/g.

Natural lycopene "capsules"

“Tomato byproducts such as juices, jams, sauces, pastes, purées and extracts are the main source of lycopene in the human diet. The BRS Zamir tomato, which is recommended for fresh consumption, is a record-breaker in lycopene accumulation in the Brazilian market. From a nutritional standpoint, the fruits of the hybrid BRS Zamir work like a yummy lycopene 'capsule'”, comments the agronomist Leonardo Boiteux, a researcher responsible for Embrapa's tomato breeding and genetic improvement program.

For farmers, the nutritional characteristics of the BRS Zamir tomatoes, combined with their sensory qualities (texture, flavor and color) represent the possibility of adding value to the product they trade. “It is like biting a grape”, compares the farmer Fernando Silva, who grows organic tomatoes as a protected cultivation in the town of São José do Rio Preto, in the countryside of São Paulo state. Boiteux explains that the fruits present a rather balanced combination of acid and sugar contents, which results in an excellent sensory impact.

In the last crop year, sales totalled 178,000 seeds (or 162 400m2-large greenhouses), states Luís Carlos Galhardo, director of the company Agrocinco, who is licensed to trade the cultivar. According to him, this volume represents between 5% to 10% of grape tomato seed sales in Brazil, a market segment that is extremely competitive. As it is a national hybrid, the seeds cost about 30% less than imported ones. “BRS Zamir grape tomatoes have promoted the strategic and competitive insertion of a national hybrid in a tomato segment where imported genetic materials prevailed”, Galhardo assesses.

Genetic improvement increases productivity

From an agronomic standpoint, BRS Zamir tomatoes have a genetic advantage that increases the number of fruits per cluster. Researchers from Embrapa Vegetables and partners characterized a gene (called bif) responsible for stimulating the evel of bifurcation in tomato bunches, which triples the number of flowers and, consequently, of fruits. “We have observed plants that presented this bifurcation trait and selected the genetic materials to get to the BRS Zamir hybrid, which adds greater productivity due to the presence of this gene”, the researcher explains.

The work of developing the hybrid grape tomato involved crossing lineages with high sensory quality (lycopene and flavor) with lineages that presented bifurcated clusters through conventional breeding. Through the Innovation Law, in partnership with the private initiative, the cultivar was assessed in different producing regions in the Brazilian states of Goiás, Paraná, São Paulo and Distrito Federal. Besides the higher productivity in comparison with the other hybrids from the same segment, BRS Zamir is also broadly adapted to the high temperatures found in the tomato producing regions of the country, reaching close to 100% of fruit setting.

The development of a national product is important because the grape tomato segment has low availability of genetic materials that are adapted to Brazilian environmental conditions, which leaves growers with very few options. “In general, most cultivars offered in the national market are foreign and the seeds are imported at elevated prices. The production of seeds of such foreign varieties occurs in greenhoused conditions in regions with milder weather. When they are cultivated in Brazil at high temperatures, there is flower abortion and inadequate fruit setting, which decreases yield”, Boiteux clarifies.

A crop that suits family farming

In this market niche, the number of fruits per cluster interests more than the size or thickness of the fruits produced. Therefore, the grape tomato is a product that fits the family farmer profile very well, who even in small areas with little structure are able produce a material with high added value. “BRS Zamir tomatoes are approved. Even in organic plantations, without pesticides or chemical fertilizers, the clusters are enormous, with vigor, and their health is very good”, the farmer Fernando Silva ponders.

Good health is another competitive advantage of BRS Zamir tomatoes: they have high tolerance to the powdery mildew fungus, a leaf disease that severely affects tomato crops under protected cultivation - the main production system adopted to plant special tomatoes like the grape segment. The cultivar tolerates fungus attacks until the end of the production cycle.

The cultivar BRS Zamir was developed through an agricultural research and development partnership contract between Embrapa Vegetables and the company Agrocinco. he contract is conducted in the terms of the Brazilian Law no. 10,973, from December 02, 2004, and of the decree no. 5,563, from October 11, 2005, which establish incentives to innovation and guarantee exclusive trading rights about the seeds for the partner company.