Potentials of genotypes, morpho-physio-biochemical traits, and growing media on shelf life and future prospects of gene editing in tomatoes

Abstract

Background: To study the genetic basis of the impact of genotypes and morpho-physio-biochemical traits under different organic and inorganic fertilizer doses on the shelf life attribute of tomatoes, field experiments were conducted in randomized block designs during the rabi seasons of 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. The experiment comprised three diverse nutrient environments [T1-organic; T2-inorganic; T3-control (without any fertilizers)] and five tomato genotypes with variable growth habits, specifically Angoorlata (Indeterminate), Avinash-3 (semi-determinate), Swaraksha (semi-determinate), Pusa Sheetal (semi-determinate), and Pusa Rohini (determinate). Results: The different tomato genotypes behaved apparently differently from each other in terms of shelf life. All the genotypes had maximum shelf life when grown in organic environments. However, the Pusa Sheetal had a maximum shelf life of 8.35 days when grown in an organic environment and showed an increase of 12% over the control. The genotype Pusa Sheetal, organic environment and biochemical trait Anthocyanin provides a promise as potential contributor to improve the keeping quality of tomatoes. Conclusion: The genotype Pusa Sheetal a novel source for shelf life, organic environment, and anthocyanin have shown promises for extended shelf life in tomatoes. Thus, the identified trait and genotype can be utilized in tomato improvement programs. Furthermore, this identified trait can also be targeted for its quantitative enhancement in order to increase tomato shelf life through a genome editing approach. A generalized genome editing mechanism is consequently suggested.

Keywords: gene editing; organic farming; shelf life; tomato; traditional farming.