The current research seeks to investigate and exploit genes to determine which condition have high levels of ascorbic acid, beta-carotene, and sugars. Traditional breeding and selection will be used to advance inbred lines with superior field performance and high levels of these compounds. Marker assisted selection will also be attempted with the RAPD markers linked to elevated sucrose and ascorbic acid. New families will be screened to develop additional molecular markers linked to major quantitative trait loci (QTL) impacting these compounds.