Chemical manipulation of tomato growth and associated biochemical implications on flavonoid, lycopene and mineral contents

C. O. Olaiya¹* and A. A. Adigun²

¹Department of Biochemistry, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.

²Department of Biochemistry, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author: E-mail: cooolaiya@yahoo.com.

Approved 18 December, 2009

  Abstract

The consumption of tomato (Solanum lycopersicon) has been linked with reduced risk of chronic degenerative diseases. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the biochemical implications of bioregulator application on flavonoids, lycopene, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, phosphorus and iron contents of tomato. Seeds of the tomato, genotype JM 94/47 were subjected to pre –germination treatment by soaking in 60, 100 and 140mg/L of indole-acetic acid (IAA), indole butyric acid (IBA) and naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and planted. The ripe tomato fruits were harvested at the orange red ripe stage and some biochemical parameters were investigated. The analysis results showed that flavonoid and lycopene content were significantly (p < 0.05) increased in tomato plants treated with IAA, IBA and NAA compared to control. The flavonoid content ranged from 0.081 to 0.169 mg/100 g while the 100 mg/L NAA resulted in the highest lycopene concentration of 1.16 µg/100 gfwb and assayed minerals were also increased in tomatoes treated with all bioregulators. These results indicate that pre – sowing seed treatment with 1AA, IBA and NAA have profound effect on improving the quality of tomato, especially the phytonutrients examined.

Key words: Bioregulators, flavonoids, lycopene, minerals, Solanum lycopersicon.