Bioactive Compounds in Tomatoes at Different Stages of Maturity

Tomato is known as a vegetable with several health benefits due to its high level of bioactive compounds, especially lycopene, phenolics, and vitamin C. The effect of tomato variety and stage of maturity on the bioactive compounds concentration was studied. Ten tomato varieties were grown and collected from a greenhouse at two different stages of ripening. The obtained results showed that there were significant differences in the mean values between analysed parameters according to the stage of ripening and variety. The highest concentration of vitamin C was determined for variety Sakura F1 at maturity stage, and the lowest for variety Sunstreem F1 for unripe fruits. The concentration of phenols and flavonoids increased during tomato ripening and the highest rate was observed for variety Naget F1 (from 7.86 mg·100g⁻¹ to 14.34 mg·100 g⁻¹ (phenols) and flavonoids from 6.09 mg·100 g⁻¹ to 10.03 mg·100 g⁻¹. The concentration of lycopene in the unripe stage was low (mostly about 1 mg·100 g⁻¹) and the most quantitative changes and the highest concentration of lycopene in full maturity stage was determined for variety SV0946TS (27.11 mg·100 g⁻¹) and variety NectarF1 (16.81 mg·100 g⁻¹).