Evaluation of AVRDC tomato advanced lines for processing and fresh marketing in Bangladesh

Most tomato cultivars in commercial production in Bangladesh were developed by the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), but BARI has not yet released any processing type or dual-purpose (fresh market and processing) cultivar. This study evaluated eight advanced processing tomato lines from AVRDC - The World Vegetable Center (AVRDC). BARI's processing line GPT0017 served as the local check. Flowering of the AVRDC lines was more uniform and earlier than the check, except for line UC204A. Plant height of AVRDC lines was more than 40 cm higher than the check; four lines (CLN3670B, CLN3669A, CLN3682C and CLN3125L-5X65) were semi-determinate. Most of the entries did not show symptoms of early blight, bacterial wilt, Fusarium wilt or southern blight disease. Slight damage by late blight disease was noted only in Tanya, UC204A and CLN3682C. Two lines also had slight damage from tomato yellow leaf curl disease, while Tanya was more severely affected. The other lines did not show any of these diseases. Damage by tomato fruit borer was noted in Tanya, CLN3682C and CLN3552C. Yield was highest in CLN3670B, CLN3552C, CLN3552B and CLN3125L-5X65, with more than 2.5 kg plant-1 or more than 60 t ha-1, but this was comparable with that of the check (66.9 t ha-1). These four lines along with the check were also more promising in terms of fresh market and processing traits. They showed satisfactory levels of fresh fruit color lightness and hue angle, total soluble solids, firmness, dry matter content, pH and vitamin C content. For the paste product, these four entries and the check also had better color, higher viscosity, and higher pulp and paste yields than the other entries. GPT0017, CLN3125L5 and CLN3682C were particularly more desirable than the other entries in terms of paste recovery and quality. It will now be worthwhile to verify the performance of these four promising lines in advanced yield trials.