| Abstract
| - We present a technique for easy, rapid analysis of both total and reduced forms of vitamin C in fruitsusing microplates and a plate reader. This technique has been compared with a spectrofluorometrictechnique classically used for assaying vitamin C in fresh tomato. We have applied these methodsto a population of 118 tomato mutant lines and controls in search of variability for this trait. Six lines,identified as having high vitamin C levels, and four lines having low vitamin C levels have been chosenfor further study. The vitamin C levels have been compared with sugar concentration, dry mattercontent, fruit weight, titratable acidity, and firmness. The correlations that often exist in tomato varietiesbetween sugar and vitamin C content (positive correlation) or fruit weight and vitamin C content(negative correlation) can be uncoupled in the lines selected for further analysis. Keywords: Vitamin C; tomato; genetic variation
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