Generating Novel Tomato Germplasm Using the Ancestral Wild Relative of Solanum pimpinellifolium

To create novel tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) germplasm, a wild tomato relative, S. pimpinellifolium (a red-fruited LA1585 accession), was used as the male parent to cross with the yellow-fruited tomato mutant, e9292 (S. lycopersicum). Forty-four morphological characteristics were examined in the present study; 22 S. pimpinellifolium (LA1585) traits and six S. lycopersicum (e9292) traits were dominant in the hybrids (first generation, F-1); 10 were intermediate types, and the remaining six resulted in a nonmorphological difference. Ten representative lines were chosen from 1338 line of the second generation of the hybrid (e9292 x LA1585). The ascorbic acid content was higher in three F-2 hybrids than in LA1585, which had higher parental levels, as well as the lycopene content in two of the hybrid lines. The fructose and glucose contents were higher in five F-2 hybrids compared to e9292, and the sugar/acid value was higher in three hybrid lines. The broad-sense heritability values ranged from 75.06% for total soluble solids to 99.92% for ascorbic acid, and the average value was 92.66% for 15 quality traits. When seedlings were exposed to NaCl and mannitol, the tolerance of high salt concentrations and drought was enhanced in two hybrid lines (F-2-266 and F-2-299) compared with else tomatoes (e9292, LA1585, F-1 hybrids, and F-2-332). We created novel tomato germplasm resources with horticulturally desirable quality traits and abiotic stress tolerance, thus offering a methodology for novel tomato germplasm creation and evaluation.