Relationship between Color and Pigments Composition of Tomato Fruit

In order to elucidate the relationship between color and pigments composition and their content in tomato fruit,the light absorption spectrum(350-700nm) of pigments extracted from tomato fruits were analyzed,determined carotenoid content by HPLC and chlorophyll content by spectrophotometer.The results showed that the red color of the red-fruit cultivar mainly resulted from high content of lycopene;the contents of lycopene were 36.0μg/g(L402) and 33.3μg/g(Lisheng-8) and the ratios of yellow carotenoids and red carotenoids were 0.19(L402) and 0.24(Lisheng-8).The yellow color of the yellow-fruit cultivar mainly resulted from high content of yellow carotenoids.The contents of β-carotene and lutein respectively were 0.9,1.0μg/g in Jinguan.The ratio of yellow carotenoids to red carotenoids was 0.73.The content of chlorophyll reached 11.4μg/g(71.7%) in the green-fruit cultivar,wihich was main reason of green color.The dark red of Hongz-11 mainly resulted from high content of lycopene and relatively high content of chlorophyll and β-carotene.From these,the color of tomato fruit was decided by pigment composition,their contents and ratios.