TRADITOM has achieved the following results:
1. The project assembled the largest collection of European Traditional Tomato varieties by requesting seeds from dispersed seed banks, research laboratories and farmers associations. The current collection exceeds 1800 different varieties (500 more than initially planned). Passport data referring to the regions of cultivation have been collected and a website repository including detailed information and materials has been established.
2. The assessment of the genotypic and phenotypic variability in TRADITOM has been completed for 1691 non-redundant varieties. Valuable information has been obtained for 141 quantitative and 43 qualitative characteristics covering interests of farmers, breeders, food technologists and consumers. The large extent of variability identified substantiates the value of TRADITOM for a variety of applications ranging from selecting varieties based on traits of interest (e.g. fruit size, shape, colour, productivity, post-harvest behaviour, etc.) to its use in variety protection, detection of duplicated varieties, etc. The effect of environmental and cultivation conditions in the expression of those traits has also been analysed in trials involving almost 32,000 plants and their fruit (4 limited-stress conditions tested in 12 different locations).
3. In terms of improvement, the introduction of disease resistance genes (DRG) in 422 new F1 hybrids has revealed which traditional traits are conserved and which ones are lost depending on the specific cross. In total >1691 varieties, 422F1 and >28BC breeding lines have been evaluated. In close collaboration between academic and industrial partners, we identified the best materials and crosses to increase the resilience of traditional tomatoes while maintaining their traditional flavour. Identification of genes flanking DRG with negative effects on quality prompted us to reduce the size of the introgression to remove any negative linkage effects. This strategy has been proven effective in TRADITOM and new derived varieties are currently used by farmers.
4. Valorisation was possible by first optimizing the most powerful metabolite profiling platform so far for a single crop (>700 metabolites identified). It was then used to profile the health and flavour metabolite complement of a core set of TRADITOM varieties (11,124 samples analysed). The improved set of health and flavour metabolites has been used to define the varieties that will represent different combinations of those metabolites and eventually be preferred by different types of consumers. In addition, we evaluated consumer preferences, postharvest behaviour as well as socioeconomic factors that restrict the commercialization of traditional tomatoes. This ‘valorisation’ has already been used in case studies in TRADITOM leading to quality certificates and to address the needs of consumers and restaurateurs.
5. TRADITOM involved representatives of all stakeholders from growers, breeders and scientists to food experts, cooks, consumers, etc. The joint activities included active participation in research and technical work, discussions and dissemination of results. Partners published their work in multiple papers, participated in international conferences, local food fairs and training workshops with farmers. The consortium involved the public by informing about the vision and mission of the project via our website, social media, press releases or interviews.
