BIOLOGICAL VALUE OF GREENHOUSE TOMATOES GROWN IN MOSCOW SUBURBS

Most of Russia is in climatic zones where agriculture is risky, therefore a significant amount of cucumbers and tomatoes are produced in greenhouses. Thus, it is very important to estimate their dietary properties. We investigated such bioactive substances as carotene, vitamin C, lycopene, selenium (in peel) and also the accumulation of dry substances, sugars, acidity and sugariness in fruits of tomato hybrids grown in winter-spring (December–July) and summer-autumn (July–November) periods of cultivation. More than 89 tomato F₁ hybrids which had various fruit weights (from 10 to 250 g) were analyzed over 4 years. The data showed that the tomatoes with large fruits contain fewer bioactive substances than cherry tomatoes. The highest correlation was observed between fruit weight and vitamin C content, selenium, dry substance and acidity. That is, the lower the fruit weight, the more the content of vitamin C, selenium, acidity and dry substance. The following correlation coefficients were observed: the weight of fruit and vitamin C (r = -0.808), weight of fruit and selenium (r = -0.806), weight of fruit and dry substance (r = -0.867), weight of fruit and acidity (r = -0.817). The highest content of vitamin C and dry substance was correlated to more selenium (r = 0.867, r = 0.789). The same interrelation was observed between the contents of dry substance and sugar, acidity, vitamin C (r = 0.800, r = 0.965, r = 0.722), and also sugar and acidity (r = 0.725). -carotene and lycopene in tomato fruits was not correlated to fruit weight.