Enhancement of Lycopene and β-carotene Production in Cherry Tomato Fruits (Solanum lycopersicum L. var. cerasiforme) by Using Red and Blue Light Treatment

Calvin Lo, Robert Manurung, Rizkita Rachmi EsyantiSchool of Life Sciences and Technology

Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia

calvinloe.92@gmail.com, manurung@sith.itb.ac.id, rizkita@sith.itb.ac.id

Introduction

• Lycopene prevention of cancer, cardiovascular disorder, etc.(Kong et al., 2010)

• β-carotene provitamin A & natural pigment.

• Prospective high economic value

(Pizarro & Stange, 2009)

(Kondo et al., 2014)

Aims of Study

• To determine the optimal light spectrum to enhancelycopene, β-carotene and sugar production in cherry tomatofruits.

• To construct mass distribution of lycopene, β-carotene andsugar production in plant treated with red, white and bluelight exposure.

Methods

Vegetative Growth

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

0 7 14 21 28 35

ln (

pla

nt

dry

we

igh

t)

Period of treatment (days)

Control

Red

White

Blue

Treatment Specific growth rate (day-1) Doubling time (days)Control 0.0572 12.2

Red 0.0642 10.8White 0.0719 9.6Blue 0.0677 10.2

Fruit Biomass Yield

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

Control Red White Blue

Tota

l mas

s o

f h

arve

ste

d f

ruit

(g

)

Treatment

Gilberto et al. (2005):Overexpression Cry2 inhibited flowering time

Sugar Content (Brix Analysis)

1 °Brix ≅ 10%-w of sucrose

0

2

4

6

8

10

Control Red White Blue

Suga

r co

nte

nt

(°B

rix)

Period of treatment (days)

Sugar 7 days

Sugar 28 days

Lycopene & β-carotene Content

0

50

100

150

200

Control Red White Blue

Lyco

pe

ne

& β

-car

ote

ne

co

nte

nt

(mg

/kg

fru

it)

Treatments

Lycopene 7 days

Lycopene 28 days

Beta-carotene 7 days

Beta-carotene 28 days

Mass Distribution

TreatmentVegetative biomass (g)

Fruit biomass (g)

Total amount produced in fruit

Lycopene (mg) β-carotene (mg) Sugar (g)

Control 41.33 47.7 63.78 17.46 41.25

Red 50.28 55.0 86.62 25.18 51.87

White 62.43 41.0 40.17 15.68 30.61

Blue 55.54 45.9 52.43 16.93 36.37

Conclusion

•Red light (663 nm) treatment enhanced lycopene, β-carotene andsugar production in cherry tomato fruits, with increment of 35.8%,46.5%, and 27.5% respectively.

•The best vegetative growth was observed on tomato plants treatedwith white light, while the highest yield of fruit (1.15 fold), sugar,lycopene and β-carotene were observed on plants treated with redlight.

Thank You