'Santa Clara' tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) plants showing earlier leaf senescence and yellowish stigma, fruits with pale yellow when immature and red when reach full ripe stage, associated to a lower rate of ripening and firmer than the wild type, were found in Viçosa, MG. The objective of this study was to evaluate the fruit growth and development of the mutant and wild type tomatoes. Mutant fruits showed smaller total fresh weight than wild type throughout development and thinner pericarp after 21 days after flowering. Basal and intermediate mutant plant leaves showed lower chlorophyll levels. 'Santa Clara' fruit took 7 days to reach full red ripe stage, while mutant fruits took 14 days. Furthermore, mutant fruits showed a delay on ethylene evolution during ripening when compared with wild type fruits.
Lycopersicon esculentum; ripening; ethylene; chlorophyll
