Manunta, C.
Comparative analysis has been made of organoleptic characters (color, taste, small, fleshiness) and of biochemical characters (vitamin C and provitamin A content, NaCl content, optical residue, reducing sugar content, and acidity as citric acid) in a very great number of strains of tomato in the experimental field at Rieti of the Appenninic Center on four successive collections of fruits.
Quite consistently for every strain has been observed:
a) a progressive increase of the optical residue from collections I to IV.
b) a progressive increase of the reducing sugars ratio from collections I to III, but a decrease from III to IV.
c) a decrease--often quite remarkable--of the acidity from I to IV.
d) and improvement from collections I to IV of organoleptic characteristics.
These findings have great practical interest, since--apart from the demonstration that environmental, specially climatic factors, have a great influence of these variations; that could reflect however also a cycle of development of intrinsic capacities--they could suggest that in our experimental fields probably the best results, especially in relation to acidity, are given by late varieties. The third and fourth collections were always effected after September 15th.
Rather similar conclusions could be drawn from the results in the ecobiological section.
Fifty varieties and strains, local or imported, cultivated have been examined in the ecobiological section. Analysing for 23 strains the tomatoes collected from the I. the earlier one, and the II seeding, a more or less remarkable superiority of the later seeded over the early planting has been noticed, both for organoleptic and for biochemical characteristics.