2018 ASHS Annual Conference

Recently organic vegetable market is growing rapidly. There is a wide perception that organic product is better than conventional product. However, there are little data to support this claim. Because of this perception, there is a growing interest in the fruits and vegetables produced under organic production system. While some of the reports on subjective comparison of quality of fruits and vegetables produced under conventional and organic systems are already available, we were interested to determine the genotypic differences under conventional and organic production system for nutrient composition in tomato. We evaluated six tomato genotypes with two replications under organic and conventional production system at Mountain Research Station, Waynesville, NC. Nutrient analysis was performed from vegetative (leaf) and reproductive (fruit) parts at three different stages. Fruit quality was also performed. Nutrient data and quality data were analyzed to see if nutrients in vegetative stage can translate into fruit quality. Results indicated that conventional system was significantly (p<0.05) better than organic system for almost all nutrient availability except Potassium. Fruits from conventional system were firmer whereas soluble solid content (SSC), lycopene and phenolics was higher from organic production system. There as a significant (p<0.05) difference among genotypes for most of the nutrients except nitrogen and sulfur. A significant difference (p<0.05) was found among genotypes for firmness, SSC and organic acid content whereas it was a non-significant difference (p>0.05) for lycopene, pH and phenolics. A detailed correlation analysis was performed and analytical perspective between nutrient availability in vegetative parts and its impact on fruit quality is presented. This information may be useful to address the questions related to these two production systems with respect to nutrient utilization and fruit quality.