From the article “Micronutrient contents in organic and conventional tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.)“, made by Luis Eduardo Ordóñez-Santos , M. Lourdes Vázquez-Óderiz and M. Angeles Romero-Rodríguez; and published in the International Journal of Sciencie, Food & Technology.
Organic food is associated by the general public with improved nutritional properties, and this has led to increasing demand for organic vegetables. The objective of this study was to investigate whether there were any real differences in the micronutrient contents in organic and conventional tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.).
Two tomato cultivars grown organically and conventionally were compared regarding their micronutrient in terms of K, Ca, Na, Mg, Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, lycopene, ß-carotene, ascorbic, malic and citric acids, and total phenolic compound content.
Where cultivation method affected the concentration of ascorbic acid and Mn, only one cultivar was affected. The results of the study have shown that for all nutrients examined, cultivar differences were greater than differences because of cultivation method.
Therefore, this study confirms that the most important variable in the micronutrient content of tomatoes is cultivar; organically grown tomato is no more nutritious than conventionally grown tomato when soil fertility is well managed.