Tomato fruit quality traits and metabolite content are affected by reciprocal crosses and heterosis

Heterosis occurs when the F1 individuals exhibit increased performance for a number of traits compared to their parental lines. On the other hand, reciprocal hybrids are obtained by changing the cross direction (or the sexual role) of parental genotypes in a cross. Both biological phenomena could affect the external and internal attributes of fleshy fruits. This work aimed to detect reciprocal effects and heterosis in different tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) for fruit quality traits and metabolite content. Twelve agronomic fruit traits and 28 metabolites identified and estimated by 1H NMR were evaluated in five cultivars grown in two environments. Due to the genotype component was the most important over the phenotype, the traits were evaluated following a full diallel mating design among those cultivars, in greenhouse. Data demonstrated that hybrids performed a higher phenotypic diversity than parental lines. Although both type of traits displayed reciprocal effect and heterosis, the me...