DFG Trilateral collaboration Deutschland-Israel-Palestine: Drought Tolerant Sun-Dried Tomatoes: A Novel Product Based on Heterotic Natural Biodiversity

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The proposed research uses tomato biodiversity-based approaches to improve plant breeding and develop a unique final product of sun-dried tomatoes for production and marketing by Palestine. Natural biodiversity is an under-exploited resource that can enrich the genetic basis of cultivated plants with novel alleles that improve productivity and adaptation. To enhance the rate of progress of exotic introgression breeding we developed a population of tomato segmental introgression lines (ILs) comprised of marker-defined genomic regions taken from the drought tolerant wild species S. pennellii and introduced into the genetic background of an elite inbred variety (M82). Our research over the past few years was aimed at developing drought tolerant tomato genotypes that are uniquely suitable for producing sun-dried tomatoes. Although yield of lines carrying the S. pennellii introgressions increased dramatically in non-irrigated trials, compared to the control, the final yield was lower than that obtained in the irrigated treatment. Importantly, parallel to the reduction in fresh yield we measured a significant increase in sugars, acids, vitamin and other metabolite components of the fruit, and a reduction in fruit size - all these are qualities that significantly improve the sun-dried product. In the first phase of the project we have mapped and fine mapped QTL for increased yield and quality of tomatoes and introduced these genomic segments into specifically bred germplasm that is suitable for production of the sun-dried products. At the same time the agronomic infrastructure and the food technology protocols based on traditional recipes were developed up to a stage where Palestinian cooperatives are interested in marketing the final product. We have additionally begun to undertake chemical composition analysis of the sundried varieties at the different stages of processing as well as to identify the genetic basis of previously defined quantitative trait loci (QTL) for agronomically important chemical traits. In the next phrase of the project we intend to test new introgression hybrids that were bred specifically for the project, test their chemical composition, optimize the irrigation regimens and develop a final product that will be marketed from Palestine.