Comparison of the Nutritive Quality of Tomato Fruits from Organic and Conventional Production in Poland

Summary

Organic horticulture is generally accepted as friendly to the environment, good for crop quality and also for the consumer’s health. Recent research data has shown that organic crops under organic farming practices contained more bioactive substances such as flavones, vitamin C, carotenoids; they also contain less pesticides residues, nitrates and nitrites. Five tomato cultivars: four large – fruit (Rumba, Juhas, Kmicic, Gigant) and one cherry cultivar (Koralik) were selected for study. The organic tomato fruits contained more dry matter, total and reducing sugars, vitamin C, total flavones and beta-carotene, but less lycopene in comparison to conventionally grown tomatoes.