Nutrient composition of tomatoes homegrown under different cultural procedures

Abstract

To study the extent to which pH, dry matter, and nine selected nutrients are affected by cultural procedures, two tomato cultivars were grown. Three growers used conventional and three used organic cultural practices. Differences were statistically significant (P ≤ 0.05) among fruits of the six growers in two seasons for sodium, calcium, zinc, protein, and dry matter. There were also differences for one season but not the other in ascorbic acid, carotene, phosphorus, and iron with no differences for either season in magnesium or pH. While results do not differentiate between the two cultural practices on the basis of nutrient composition, organically grown fruits were significantly larger than conventionally grown fruits.