The Tomato Genetic Resource Collection

The Tomato collection was created at INRAE in 1958 and has expanded over the years to meet the needs of successive breeding programs.

It currently has more than 2,500 accessions of cultivated tomato from around the world and a hundred accessions belonging to 10 wild related species. The heart of the collection consists of round red tomatoes, but has recently expanded to include accessions with diverse shapes, colour and fruit size (especially cerasiforme tomatoes).

The Tomato Network was created in 1997 with 12 partners including 10 seed companies. This network has helped save and share genetic material, and also allows discussions between professionals on field trials.

As a result of material shared by the network, the national Tomato collection includes 56 accessions of old varieties of French origin.

⇒ You can view the National Tomato Collection online

For research purposes, INRAE has also established scientific collections, especially populations of recombinant inbred lines, advanced backcross, intra- and interspecific populations and multi-parent populations (MAGIC), representing more than 1,000 accessions.

⇒ To find out more about current Tomato research programs: link

Learning resources

You can freely use these learning and communication tools by mentioning the source (INRA CRB-Leg). Send us feedback on their use.

• Poster of the “History of the introduction of the tomato and pepper”

• La tomate. Les défis du goût (dossier - quiz)