Generating Novel Tomato Germplasm Using the Ancestral Wild Relative of Solanum pimpinellifolium

Abstract

To create novel tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) germplasm, a wild tomato relative, S. pimpinellifolium (a red-fruited LA1585 accession), was used as the male parent to cross with the yellow-fruited tomato mutant, e9292 (S. lycopersicum). Forty-four morphological characteristics were examined in the present study; 22 S. pimpinellifolium (LA1585) traits and six S. lycopersicum (e9292) traits were dominant in the hybrids (first generation, F1); 10 were intermediate types, and the remaining six resulted in a nonmorphological difference. Ten representative lines were chosen from 1338 line of the second generation of the hybrid (e9292 × LA1585). The ascorbic acid content was higher in three F2 hybrids than in LA1585, which had higher parental levels, as well as the lycopene content in two of the hybrid lines. The fructose and glucose contents were higher in five F2 hybrids compared to e9292, and the sugar/acid value was higher in three hybrid lines. The broad-sense heritability values ranged from 75.06% for total soluble solids to 99.92% for ascorbic acid, and the average value was 92.66% for 15 quality traits. When seedlings were exposed to NaCl and mannitol, the tolerance of high salt concentrations and drought was enhanced in two hybrid lines (F2-266 and F2-299) compared with else tomatoes (e9292, LA1585, F1 hybrids, and F2-332). We created novel tomato germplasm resources with horticulturally desirable quality traits and abiotic stress tolerance, thus offering a methodology for novel tomato germplasm creation and evaluation.