The tomato is a annual Plante of the family of the Solanacée S, originating in South America (Peru). The term indicates also this fleshy Fruit, which is one of the most important food in the human consumption and which is consumed fresh or transformed. It is the ingredient of kitchen more consumed in the world after the Potato. It is cultivated under almost all the latitudes, on a surface of approximately 3 million hectares, which represents nearly one the third of the world surfaces devoted to vegetables.

Called a long time " apple of amour" or " apple of or" , its “tomato” name was accepted by the French Academy only in 1835. It was borrowed from the Nahuatl (language of the Uto-Aztecan family) tomatl . The name lycopersicum means “fishing of wolf literally”, and refers to the toxic character allotted initially to this fruit.

• scientific Name: Solanum lycopersicum L., family of the Solanacée S. the tomato was also called Lycopersicon esculentum . However, of the recent studies in Génomique classify tomato in the kind Solanum, the same one as the Potato. The tomato counts several varieties.

• Common nouns: tomato, apple of gold, apple of love, poma of amor (into of Provence), apple of Peru. In German and Spanish, Tomato ; in Danish and Swedish, Tomat ; in English and Esperanto, tomato ; in Dutch, tomaat ; in Portuguese, tomateiro for the plant and tomato for the fruit; in Italian, tomatica or pomodoro ; in Hebrew עגבניה ; in Japanese: トマト ; in Arabic طماطم.

Description

The tomato is an annual herbaceous plant with crawling port, with the ramified stems. There exist three ports: falling down, semi-falling down and horizontal. Nowadays, it is difficult to determine the size of tomato since one exclusively uses Hybride S with unspecified growth. It is necessary to train them because the stem is far from woody and has a hollow section. To train, one surrounds a bond around the stem, bond which one hangs to a support or a reel connected to the frame of the greenhouse.

System racinaire

At tomato, the system racinaire very powerful and is ramified on the first thirty centimetres. It is said that this system racinaire is swivelling.

Stem

It is hairy, thick with the internodes. One finds two kinds of hairs on the stem and the sheets: simple hairs and glanduleux hairs which contain a essential Huile, which gives the odor of tomato and green coloring.

Sheets

Essential for the Photosynthesis. They are persistent. The old sheets lose their photosynthetic capacity and become even harmful for the plant, persons in charge of the delay of growth of the fruits. The professionals cut them, which is problematic in labor since this operation must be renewed every week (sheets above them next fruits to be collected). the sheets are made up, from 5 to 7 leaflets and are alternate on the stem.

Granulates

The seed is small (250 to 350 seeds per gram) and hairy; its germination is épigée. After the stage cotylédonaire, the plant produces 7 to 14 made up sheets before flowering.

Fleur

The flower is Hermaphrodite. The Pistil is surrounded by a cone from 5 to 7 cheesecloths with introrse and longitudinal déhiscence. The flowers, with corollas welded in the star shape with five points are yellow sharp. They are joined together in Cyme S and open out at the end of May at September.

• At the varieties with unspecified port, each floral bouquet is separated by 3 sheets and the plant can grow thus indefinitely.
• At the varieties with determined port, the inflorescences are separated by two sheets, then a sheet, before finding itself in final position on the stem.

5 sepals + 5 petals + 5 cheesecloths + 2 carpelles

Fruit

The fleshy Fruit S are bays with 2 or 3 cabins, with very many seeds, of size, form and color very varied:

• the size goes from a few grams (tomato currant) to nearly 2 kg;
• the form generally spherical, is more or less flattened, more or less corded, but there are some in the shape of heart or pear;
• the color, initially greenish, generally transfers with the red with maturity, but there are the white ones, yellows, the black ones, pinks, blue, violets, oranges and the two-tone ones.

Terms used to describe a tomato

• Color: white , yellow , black , orange , pink , red , green , purplished , violet , streaked
• Size: lengthened , cherry , hybrid cherry , cocktail , in the shape of heart , corded , in bunch, large , oblong , small , very large
• Flesh: to cook , good , dense , soft , firm , scented , thick skin , rustic , tasty
• Production: early port (given, unspecified, compact), , productive (fairly, little, very), regular , resistant , late , tolerant (with the wet climate, heat).

History

This plant is originating in the North-West of South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, north of the Chile).

Introduced in Europe, Italy, Spain at the 16th century like plants decorative, it is cultivated since the 18th century for its Fruit, consumed like Légume.
The introduction in France was slow. In 1600, Olivier de Serres, one of the first agronomists French, class the tomato among the plants of ornament. Here what he wrote in the theater of agriculture and mesnage of the fields :

“ the apples of love, of wonder, and gilded, requires common soil and traictement, like also commonly, is used to cover cabinets and arbors, grimpans merrily over, agrafans firmly with the supports. The diversity of their fueillage, returns the place to which one assembles them, extremely pleasant: and willingly, nice the fruicts that these plants produce, pendans among their rameure… Their fruicts is not good to eat: only they useful in medicine, and plaisans to handle is and smell ”.

The plant being same family as the Belladonna, its fruits were not regarded as edible, but useful in medicine.

Etymology

Tomato comes from Spanish tomato by confusion with the word Nahuatl tomatl which indicated the fruit of the tomatillos ( Physalis ixocarpa ), on the other hand the word nahuatl xictomatl (nahuatl: xictli “navel”; tomatl “tomatillo”, “tomatillo of the navel”; Mexican Spanish: jitomate ) indicates the tomato ( Lycopersicon esculentum ).

Culture

The tomato is a plant of hot moderate climate. Its ideal temperature of growth is between 15 °C (the night) and 25 °C (the day). She fears freezing and the temperatures lower than + 2 °C does not tolerate. It is a heliophilous plant, it asks for an average hygroscopy, sometimes a contribution of CO₂ (under greenhouse glass). Its growing period is rather long: it is necessary to count between five and six months between sowing and the first harvest.

The multiplication is done by sowing, operation that it is necessary to rather early make, about February-March, and thus under shelter in moderate climate (in greenhouse or under glazed frame). Young seedlings between on April 15th and on May 15th, as soon as that the period of the frosts passed.

It is necessary to prop them, except for the varieties with determined growth for which one envisages only one mulching. The traditionally practiced size consists in removing the greedy ones and étêter the principal stem after 4th or 5th bouquet.

It is a very demanding culture, which requires a deep ground and smoked well, and the possibility of irrigation. It is a plant neutrophile.

Culture Except ground:

The tomatos of industrial production are generally cultivated except grounds in greenhouses of several hectares on rockwool and are fed in a completely artificial way by a mixture of water and manure. That makes it possible to extend considerably the period of manufacture (at the expense of the quality of tomatos) by heating the greenhouses in winter.

The principal enemies of the tomato culture are:

• of the ravageurs: plant louses, aleurodes, mineuses, cut worm of tomato, Colorado beetle, Nematode S;
• of the cryptogamic diseases: Cast iron of sowings, Anthracnose, Alternariose, cladosporiose, black foot of tomato, mildew of tomato, gray Rot, fusariose of tomato, septoriose;
• of the bacterial diseases: bacterial canker;
• of the viral diseases: Bronze of the tomato, Mosaic of the tobacco, thread-like disease.

Various species

The kind Solanum of the Solanaceous family of the S, includes/understands several species of which:

• Solanum lycopersicum , this species counts several varieties, of which:
• Solanum lycopersicum esculentum with large fruits, it is the cultivated tomato from which almost all the varieties found on the market rise.
• Solanum lycopersicum cerasiforme , the Tomato cherry, it is the only wild form of the kind also met apart from South America (Rick, 1986). Known in the Antilles and in Guyana Frenchwomen under the name of Tomadose . It is possible that the cultivated tomato was domesticated starting from this wild form.

• reproductive with Solanum lycopersicum (or Lycopersicon esculentum )

• Solanum cheesmaniae (or Lycopersicon cheesmaniae ), the “tomato of Galapagos”, it is tolerant with salt
• Solanum chmielewskii (or Lycopersicon chmielewskii ) pushes in the mountainous areas (1000-3000 m) and wet of the Andes
• Solanum galapagense , another tomato species “of Galapagos”
• Solanum habrochaites (or Lycopersicon hirsutum ) with green fruits, pushes in the mountainous areas (500-3300 m) and wet of South America.
• Solanum lycopersicoides (or Lycopersicon lycopersicoides )
• Solanum neorickii (or Lycopersicon parviflorum ) pushes in the mountainous areas (1000-3000 m) and wet of the Andes.
• Solanum pennellii (or Lycopersicon pennellii ) with green fruits, it pushes in the mountainous mediums (500-1500 m) and dry of South America, because it with the capacity to absorb the humidity of the atmosphere thanks to the presence of many stomata on the higher face of its sheets. It is a very sweetened tomato naturally and it constitutes the base of true the Ketchup.
• Solanum pimpinellifolium (or Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium ) with red fruits
• Solanum rickii

• nonreproductive with Solanum lycopersicum

• Solanum chilense (or Lycopersicon chilense ) pushes in the dry environments of the Chilean south, where its major rooting enables him to exploit the rare water reserves. It has long floral bouquets, from 14 to 20 centimetres.
• Solanum corneliomuelleri (or Lycopersicon glandulosum )
• Solanum juglandifolium (or Lycopersicon juglandifolium )
• Solanum ochranthum (or Lycopersicon ochranthum )
• Solanum peruvianum (or Lycopersicon peruvianum )
• Solanum sitiens (or Lycopersicon sitiens )

Cultivated varieties

There exist very many cultivated varieties of Lycopersicon esculentum . The selection made by the men privileged the plants with large fruits. One however distinguishes several categories of tomatos, according to the mode of growth of the plant -- unspecified or given -- and especially according to the type of fruit:

• varieties with flat and corded fruit, of type Marmande, whose weight is high since it can exceed 1 kg; the varieties with fruit rounded, whose weight varies from 100 to 300 grams, for which there exist hybrids whose fruits are preserved a long time;
• varieties with fruit lengthened with an end round, of Roma type, or pointed, of Chico type. These last varieties are intended for industry. They have a whole a given port and their fruits answer a certain number of technological criteria related to their transformation. Some of these varieties lend themselves to mechanical harvest.

Among the many varieties:

• Abraham Lincoln , Ace , Pineapple , Auriga , Australia .
• Banana Legacy , Beef Master , bif , big beef , Bonsai , Borghese , Bourgois , Brandy wine , To persecute , Bit of lily of the valley .
• Calabash red , Caro rich , Cherry , Champion , Flesh of ox , Coal , Chico , Climbing Trip , Heart of pigeon , Heart of ox , Cold & Green , Corrogo , Costoluto genovese , Cuostralee .
• De Berao , Delight of gold , Delicious , Of the Andes , Doubl Rich .
• Earliana , red Early , Eureka , Evergreen , Fuzzy fishes pink .
• Giant Reif red , German , Golden delicious servant boy , Golden delicious Treasure , Goliath , Green pineapple , Green streaked , Gregori Altai , white Grosse , Groseille .
• Hegejesmalmi , Ida Gold , Ivory Egg .
• Yellow , Jenny , Jerusalem , Jolly , Juliet .
• the rossa , La Paz , beautiful Liberty , Livingston beauty , Lucy .
• Marmande , Marvel Stripped , Mexican , Mikado , Mirabelle plum , Monte Carlo , Mount Favet .
• New Zealand pear , Black of the Crimea .
• Olirose de Saint-Domingue , Omar Lebanese , Opalska , Orange Bourgoin , Orenburg giant , Oroma .
• Pantano , Peacevine , Yellow peach , Perestroika , Persimmon , Plum Dandy , Podland pink , yellow Pear , red Pear , Pear Rose , Pomodoro , Ponderosa golden delicious , Ponderosa Pink , Portuguese , scarlet Pumpkin , Principle , Pritchard , Prudent' S Purple , black Plum , red Plum .
• green Grape , Reinsen Traube , Roma , Romanesco , Rose , Pink Success , Rose of Bern , Rosextra .
• San Marzano , Santa , Santiam , Sasha Altai , Scatalone 2 , Shimmeig Creg , Sicily , Soldaki , Striped , Stripped german , Stupice , Summer Sweet , Sunstart , Sweet 100 , Sweet Million , Saint Pierre .
• Czech , Teardrop , TGV 52 , Tiger Tom , Tomatillo green , Tomatillo Violet , Small cask , r' Trophée , Tula .
• Violetor , Viva Italia , Yellow canary , Zapotek .

Economic aspects

The tomato is cultivated in almost all the countries of the world. It is, by volume of production, the third " légume" with the world plan, behind the Potato and the Sweet potato.

It is present in the whole world, on seedlings from 0,40 to 7 meters in height following the varieties and the countries.

For the principal French-speaking countries (figures of the worldwide production 2004 in tons, source FAO):

• France: 843.220 tons
• Canada: 805.090 tons
• Belgium: 245.900 tons
• Swiss: 29.600 tons

In France:

• more of the three quarters of the tomato seeds authorized with the sale is those of hybrid plants F1.
• 98% of the seeds is under Brevet.

Biological studies

The improvement of tomato started as of the domestication of the species with civilizations précolombiennes. Today, the tomato is one of the species the best known ones in agronomy. It is used as genetic model with many plants and it continues to be the subject of many work, as well in moderate zone as in tropical area:

• In tropical area, research relates mainly to the adaptation to the climate and resistance to bacterial fading and the nematodes.
• In moderated zone, the undertaken studies have a determining incidence on the tropical programs. It is in particular the case of the selection for resistance to the diseases and of the improvement of the adaptation to heat.
• In the field of molecular biology, from the major results was obtained, in particular by the American teams (Université of Cornell) and Frenchwomen (INRA).

Research for a more sweetened tomato

The tomato Lycopersicon pennellii (ex- Solanum pennellii ) is a very sweetened tomato naturally, it is at the base of true the Ketchup. This characteristic is due to a specific enzyme - an invertase - present at much of fruits and flowers, but particularly effective at this tomato.

This discovery, made public by the israélo-américano-allemande team directed by Dani Zamir of the University of Jerusalem in Rehovot, rises from their research starting from intragenic lines.

This technique of research had already made it possible to discover a gene which controls the size of tomato and another which determines its color.

Use

The tomato holds an important place in the human consumption. It is used in expenses, salad and juice, or transformed, in the form of mashed potatoes, of concentrate, condiment and sauce. Processing industries of tomato are established in all the areas of the world and are supplied by thousands of hectares of mechanized culture.

Caution: If the fruit has many culinary and dietetic virtues, it is not the same stems and sheets which are toxic. It is besides the case for the majority of Solanaceous, inter alia for the Potato.

For the food

It is a very important Fruit today cooks some, entering the composition of many receipts. It is a basic ingredient of the Pizza.

The tomato can be consumed:

• is raw, out of salad or with crunches with salt;
• is cooked, in various ways: jumped, stuffed, out of sauce… Cooked the tomato makes it possible to assimilate the Lycopène well.

The tomato is the subject of an important processing industry, which provides to the consumer dried tomatos, tomatos peeled out of box, tomato purée, tomato puree, tomato sauce (of which the Ketchup)… and a healthy drink, tomato juice. One can also make Confiture of tomatos, on the condition of using for that of green tomatos.

See: Receipts containing tomato

Conservation

• Tomatos of autumn: thinned out the leaves of and suspended, upside down, in the shade.
• has room temperature in a part not too dry, to preserve the taste of it.
• Around the Mediterranean basin, it is hollowed out, salted then dried with the sun.
• After boiling, peeled and salted, it is preserved in its juice after sterilization.
• the tomato can also be the subject of one long-term conservation after transformation of the fruits into a very concentrated paste: double puree tomato sold in the trade.

For health

The tomato is a diet food, very rich in water (more than 90%) and very low in calories (18 kcal for 100 grams), rich in biogenic salts and vitamins (has, C and E).

It is in particular made up of:

• potassium: approximately 280 Mg for 100 G of tomato,
• lycopene: red pigment of carotenoid type, which is an antioxydant, contained at a rate of 30 Mg in 200 ml of tomato sauce.

It contains a Alcaloïde (the Solanine) as of the Saponine - it is besides the latter product related to the histamine which returns it for certain indigestible.

The tomato would have a traditional use of Phytothérapie in particular thanks to its content of Lycopène and carotenoid pigments antioxydant.

Other uses

It can also be used to make disappear the stench from the Putois (or Mouffette) on a pet. The tomato juice constitutes a good remedy against this odor. However, to be really effective, the juice must dry on the hair of the animal (the dog), then to be rinsed.

See too

• Tomato out of tree ( Cyphomandra betacea )
• Tomatina, an annual festival with Buñol (Province of Valence in Spain) which consists of a tomato battle

External bonds

• Site of collectors of tomato seedlings

• the culture bio of old tomatos to the kitchen garden
• a forum or the main theme is the tomato
• Encyclopédie wiki varieties of tomatos + purse of exchange
• Greffer tomatos

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