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Article: Tomatoes That Age Gracefully.(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Agricultural Research
- Article date:
- December 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 U.S. Government Printing Office. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Six years ago, the tomato industry thought it had a fresh-market winner--a tomato that could be left to ripen longer on the vine and still remain firm through a couple of weeks of shipping, handling, and sitting on the shelf. But the genetically engineered Flavr Savr tomato was poor tasting and costly to produce, so it shriveled on the vine.
With the growing competition in today's fresh-tomato market--worth nearly $1 billion in 1999--the time is ripe for a tomato that ages gracefully. Researchers in ARS' Horticultural Crops Quality Laboratory at Beltsville, Maryland, are closer to providing the industry with the needed tools--a clearer picture of some of the genes ...