INFLUENCE OF POLLEN ON MATERNAL SEEDS AND FRUIT TISSUE OF TOMATO

Maternal plants typically influence the phenotype of fruit and seed. The source of pollen could have significant effect on the phenotype of maternal tissue. In this research, fruit from two reciprocal crosses (‘TM50’ and ‘V85’) were monitored for 50 days after pollination. Different sources of pollen had different effects on the maternal tissue phenotype. ‘TM50’ pollen accelerated red color development in the ‘V85’ fruit. Dry matter, total soluble solids and titratable acidity ratio (TSS/TA) and glucose contents in the pulp were reduced, whereas TSS/TA in mucilage seed coat increased compared to fruit from self-pollinated ‘V85’. The proportions of fructose, glucose and sucrose content in seeds were different in the self-pollinated ‘V85’. ‘V85’ pollen reduced dry matter, TSS/TA (pulp) and sucrose content (seed) in the ‘TM50’, but the seed number per fruit, 1,000 seed weight and glucose content in seeds were increased. The results indicate that cross pollination using ‘TM50’ or ‘V85’ pollen had different effects on maternal fruit and F1 seed quality.