Relevance. When creating tomato varieties and hybrids, much attention is paid not only to the commercial component (yield, appearance and uniform ripening), but also to the taste qualities of the products. Salad tomato varieties with yellow, tangerine, and pink fruits are increasingly in demand. As a rule, these fruits do not store for a long time, so it is necessary to increase their storability and transportability. Fruits of this group of tomatoes have high antioxidant activity, which is due not only to the significant content of water-soluble antioxidants (such as ascorbic acid), but also carotenoids. The preservation of fruit largely depends on the dry matter content.The aim of investigation is to study biochemical parameters of tangerine tomatoes fruits under different ripening conditions.Materials and methods. Plants were grown in the greenhouse of Federal Scientific Vegetable Center. Biochemical characteristics of tomato fruits were studied during harvesting and after laying for storage in the milky ripeness phase according to the following indicators: dry matter, ascorbic acid, total content of water-soluble antioxidants, titratable acidity, monosaccharides, polyphenols and carotenoids.Results. The percentage of dry matter in tangerine tomato fruits does not change during storage, even increases slightly. The dry matter content of fruits from the open field is slightly higher than that of fruits from the greenhouse. The content of sugars and ascorbic acid in fruits with tangerine fruits after laying for ripening decreases slightly. However, the content of these compounds is higher in mature fruits immediately after picking than in fruits after ripening. The total content of antioxidants during ripening decreases, though not significantly (in 1.1-1.7 times).

The review surveyed the carotenoids in vegetables, factors affecting their accumulation and their protective abilities against chronic diseases

Relevance. Currently, there is an increasing interest in nutritional supplements of natural origin. One of the crops that can be used for this is sweet potato. The inclusion of flour from dried sweet potato tubers with colored pulp in the recipe of wheat bread can contribute to its enrichment with vitamins and antioxidants. Therefore, the study of the suitability of sweet potato tubers obtained in the conditions of the Non-Chernozem Zone for use as an additive in the production of bread is an urgent task.Material and methods. The article presents the results of a comparative study of the appearance and taste of bread with the addition of various amounts of powder from root tubers with colored pulp of two varieties of sweet potato (Purple 1 - anthocyanin and Beauregard – carotenoids).Results. It has been established that sweet potato root tubers grown in the conditions of the Central region of the Non-Chernozem zone are suitable for use as a natural food additive to wheat bread. The positive effect of preliminary steaming of tubers before drying on the volumetric yield of bread and the color of its crumb was revealed. The studied varieties of sweet potato differed significantly in the yield of air-dry powder - the Purple 1 variety had an advantage over the Beauregard variety. Bread with additions of 5% and 10% of Purple 1 tuber powder was characterized by the best appearance and taste. The Beauregard variety had a high sugar content, which negatively affected the consumer advantages of bread with its additives.

Relevance and methods. We studied the influence of LED lighting of different spectral composition on the content of photosynthetic pigments in tomato leaves to identify the most optimal lighting option suitable for obtaining high-quality seedlings under controlled conditions. We used LED lamps in which the ratio of the photon flux density (PFD) of the orange-red band (607–694 nm) to the PFD of the blue band (400–495 nm) varied from 1 to 20. In this case, the proportion of the PFD in the range 580-607 nm ( yellow) ranged from 13 to 22%, and the fraction of photons in the range 495–580 nm (green) ranged from 18 to 38%. The research was carried out with two varieties of Belarusian tomato varieties, which differed in a number of morphobiological characteristics.Results. It was found that the use of LED lighting of different spectral composition had mainly an inhibitory effect on the biosynthesis of chlorophylls and carotenoids in the leaf tissue of plants. The decrease in the amount of pigments, in comparison with the control variant, reached 47-57%. It was revealed that under all studied lighting options, with the exception of conditions where the spectral ratio R / B ("red/blue") was 0.8, the value of the total inhibitory effect in the Cherry Coral variety was 1.2-1.7 times lower than that of the Zorka variety, which indicated a significantly lower susceptibility of the pigment fund of the former to LED lighting. The smallest inhibitory effect of the latter on the biosynthesis of photosynthetic pigments in both tomato varieties was established at a photon flux of 69.1 μmol/s, while the greatest, exceeding it by 3.0-3.1 times in the Zorka variety and 4.5-5.3 times for the Cherry Coral variety with a photon flux of 73.9 μmol/s.

Relevance. High lycopene fruit content has been regarded as a very important genetic trait in tomato breeding. Use lycopene molecular markers in combination with conventional breeding techniques allowed us to create hybrids with high lycopene accumulation, excellent organoleptic qualities, high yield production and resistance to pathogens, and to effectively optimize our breeding programmes for commercial greehouses production.Material and Methods. In this study tomato samples including selected lines and hybrids with various allelic combinations of genes determining carotene accumulation, and other genetic traits, such as disease resistance and yield production were tested. Introgression of spontaneous and induced mutations was used to increase carotenoid levels (og and hp) and improve fruit technological qualities (nor, alc, rin). The research material was tomato collection, mutants, breeding lines and hybrids listed in the State Register Russian Federation tomato hybrids of breeding SS Agrofirm "Ilyinichna" VNIIO branch of the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Vegetable Growing – Branch of the FSBSI Federal Scientific Vegetable Center. DNA typing of fruit quality genes was performed at the Institute of Genetics and Cytology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus.Results. New domestic hybrids for industrial greenhouses, which characterised by improved organoleptic qualities and technological traits were developed with the help of phasedcross-breeding that allowed to combine the genes nor, rin, alc, leading to an extension of the shelf life with the genes B, og, hp1, etc., contributing to an increase in carotenoid content in fruits. It was established that for targeted selection and hybridization, despite the negative influence of the nor, rin, alc genes it is possible to raise the level of carotenoids to average values. Correlation between lycopene concentration in fruits and high temperature and level of insolation was confirmed. It was shown that pink-fruited forms contain significantly more lycopenethanred-fruitedones. Different all eliccombinations of structural genes involved in carotenoids biosynthesis and regulatory genes that provided maximal accumulation of lycopene in hybrid swithred and pink fruits were revealed. Hybrids with the combination of high concentrations of sugar (° Brix), dry matter and maximal lycopene values, combined defining excellent taste were selected: Prekrasnaiya lady, Olya, Quadrille, Victoria. New F1 hybrids one for industrial greenhouses: G950, G956, G960, Magistral and pink fruited G12897, surpassed the Dutch standard in productivity up to 21%, and in tastes/organoleptic qualities for 1-1.8 points.

Capsicum chinense Jacq. is the rich source of phytochemical substances, such as vitamin C, phenolic compounds, carotenoids, and occupies a significant place in the cooking of many peoples. The pigment composition, the amount of carotenoids, ascorbic acid and their contribution to the formation of antioxidant properties were studied. The total content of carotenoids and red/yellow pigments varied greatly among the accessions of C. chinense. The highest content of carotenoids 0.581 mg/g was observed in the varieties ‘Ognennaya Deva’ with the red fruit color in the phase of biological ripeness, where red pigments accumulated 56% more than in yellow ones. Fruits of accessions ‘Kolokolchik’ only accumulated yellow pigments, 0.318 mg/g. Presence of significant amount, 2.03 times as much red pigments as yellow ones in the variety ‘Trinidad Scorpion Chocolate’, with protein complex could cause the formation of a brown fruit color. Another tendency was observed in ‘Trinidad Dglahou’. The yellow pigment is 1.5 times as much amount as red, as estimated 0.119 mg/g of yellow and 0.077 mg/g of red pigment. The ascorbic acid content did not depend on the fruit color. Fruits of the ‘Ognennaya Deva’ accumulated the highest amount of ascorbic acid, 301 mg%. The maximum total antioxidant content, was detected in the variety ‘Ognennaya Deva’ 2.65 (TAC, mg.eq. GA/g). Analysis of the dependence of the content of thermo stable antioxidants to the total ones showed the contribution of the unstable antioxidants to thermal effects (particularly ascorbic acid) on the level of 16%, on average. A comparative assessment of the pungency level and quantitative capsaicin content in the fruit was carried out by organoleptic, spectrophotometric and HPLC methods. The intervals of observed concentrations of capsaicin were 1.0-7.5 mg/g of dry weight (HPLC), the level of pungency on the Scoville scale was 17440-153120 SHU. There was a direct correlation between the organoleptic assessment of the pepper fruit pungency and capsaicin content studied by spectrophotometry and HPLC methods.

Relevance. Tomato pink-fruit cultivars and hybrids are of interest for fresh consumption. The biochemical parameters are influenced by the varietal factor and by the growing conditions. It is known that mature tomatoes record low storability. The softening of the fruit is caused by ethylene produced in the ripening fruit. Then pectinase enzymes are synthesized in the fruit tissues, under the action of which the cell walls of the fruit soften. Breeders are creating tomato cultivars whose fruits could be stored for a long time without losing their tasty.   The aim of the investigation was to study the biochemical parameters of pink-colored tomato fruits under different ripening conditions.   Materials and methods. The plants were grown on the experimental fields of the Laboratory for Breeding and Seed Production of Solanaceae crops. In the Analytical Department, the biochemical composition of pink tomato fruits was studied during harvesting from the field and after laying for storage in the milky ripeness phase according to the following indicators: dry matter, ascorbic acid, total content of water-soluble antioxidants, titratable acidity, monosaccharides, polyphenols and carotenoids.   Results. The breeding accession F4 (Lotos x Z6) showed maximum dry matter and monosaccharide content both after storage and in mature fruits. The same sample as F5 (Lotos x Z6) showed the highest ascorbic acid content after storage. Other parameters before and after storage in these samples were comparable. Whereas, breeding accession F6 (Z6 x Lotos) stood out in terms of maximum content of sum of antioxidants in alcoholic extract and content of water-soluble antioxidants after storage.

Relevance. Pumpkin is one of the most important source of carotenoids for humans: β- and α-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin playing a fundamental role in providing twilight and color vision accordingly.Results. Investigation of pumpkin carotenoid composition, Konfetka variety, revealed for the first time that this cultivar is the only one containing exclusively lutein in pulp with lutein and zeaxanthin in peel and lutein, zeaxanthin and β-carotene in placenta. Lutein concentration in pulp reached 11 mg/100 g, peel – 41.3/100 g, placenta – 51.2 mg/100 g. Zeaxanthin was absent in pulp and reached 28.3 mg/100 g in peel, and 10 mg/100 g in placenta. β-Carotene was detected only in placenta where its concentration was as much as 94.7 mg/100 g. The results indicate great prospects of ‘Konfetka’ components utilization (pulp, peel, placenta) in food industry, production of baby food and biologically active food additives, containing lutein and zeaxanthin.

Qualitative and quantitative evaluation of tomatoes carote-noid composition is considered to be the basis of tomato selection. Among known methods of identification and carotenoid content determination thing layer chromatography (TLC) is characterized by inexpensive, quick and availab-le method of analysis. Comparison of individual tomato carotenoid content data obtained using wellknown empirical formulas and based of TLC separation on chromatoraphic paper was achieved. Empirical formulas for the determination of lycopene and beta-carotene concentrations were shown to give high variations in beta-carotene content and decreased values of total carotenoids concentration values. Developed conditions of chromatographic separation and identification of selected carotenoids are based on different polarity of individual pigments and specific absorption spectra of the latter. Method of thin layer chromatography may serve as a quick and effective method for quality evaluation of tomato fruit of different color and determination of beta-carotene, ζ-carotene, neurosporene, lycopene and lutein content.