G. L. Marsh

Vitamin C in tomatoes: Comparison of tomatoes developed for mechanical or hand harvesting

Variety does affect the ascorbic acid content of tomatoes. However, the tomatoes currently being developed for mechanical harvesting have as high ascorbic acid concentrations as those developed for more conventional harvesting. Tomatoes of the same variety, grown in different areas may have vitamin C concentrations which deviate as much as 17 percent from the average value for that variety. Although the vitamin C concentration of some varieties of tomatoes developed for mechanical and manual harvesting were highest when the plants were grown in one area of the country, this was not true for other varieties. The environmental factors which have been shown to influence the vitamin C content of conventional tomatoes have a comparable effect on the tomatoes developed for mechanical harvesting.