Multi-year Flavor Analyses of University of Florida Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) Lines

University of Florida (UF) tomato breeding lines were evaluated for sensory (sweet, sour and overall flavor) as well as chemical characteristics including total soluble solids (Brix), titratable acidity (TA), solids/acids ratio (Brix/TA), sugars (glucose and fructose), acids (citric and malic), color, lycopene and aroma volatiles.  Fruit were harvested over a 7 year period (multiple harvests in December and June for central Florida and sometimes also March in Homestead) and were brought from the field to the laboratory, washed and prepared for consumer sensory panels.  From each of the four replicated servings/harvest, a subsample was taken for chemical analyses.  Brix was determined using a refractometer, TA using a titrator, individual sugars, acids, and lycopene by HPLC, color by chromameter (L*, a*, b*) and aroma volatiles by gas chromatography.  Anova analysis revealed highly significant differences for sensory characteristics by line and year, but not season. Principal Components Analysis (PCA), however, showed separation by line, year and season with sweetness strongly correlated to overall flavor and both positively correlated to Brix/TA ratio, and sugar content. Sourness changed independently from sweetness and overall flavor, however, was positively correlated to acid content. The breeding lines low in sweetness and overall flavor ratings also had more earthy and musty volatiles, such as methional, 2+3-methylbutanal and 1-octen-3-one or were not generally correlated with volatiles. On the other hand, breading lines high in sweetness and overall flavor ratings also had higher lycopene content, more red color and were more correlated with volatiles in general, especially green (C-6 aldehydes) and fruity/floral ketones, aldehydes and a terpene alcohol (1-penten-3-one, geranylacetone, acetone, citral, benzaldehyde, β-ionone, furanone and linalool). Special attention was given to the new UF release, ‘Tasti-Lee’ (line 8153) in comparison to the industry standard FL47 since they were included in every trial.  ‘Tasti-Lee’ correlated with flavor, sweetness, Brix and volatiles in general, while FL47 showed generally negative correlations to these attributes.