Genetic variability and selection parameters for yield and quality attribute in tomato

Abstract

Thirty five genotype of tomato were subjected to study the genetic components such as variability, correlation and path coefficient analysis for growth, yield and quality attributes. Significant differences among the genotypes were observed for all the traits under study. The high values of genotypic coefficient of variability and heritability estimates associated with greater values of genetic gain were observed for juice - pulp ratio, fruit yield/plant, number of primary branches/plant, number of fruits/plant, average fruit weight, and titrable acidity. Correlation studies revealed that the economically important trait fruit yield/plant exhibited high positive significant correlation with fruit size, plant height, number of fruits/plant and number of primary branches/plant at both phenotypic as well as genotypic levels. The path co-efficient analysis revealed that days to first picking had highest positive direct effect on fruit yield followed by harvest duration, number of fruits/plant, average fruit weight, plant height and number of flowers/cluster. It is suggested that characters viz., minimum days to first fruit picking, more number of fruits/plant, average fruit weight, fruit size, plant height, number of primary branches/plant and extended harvest duration should be given priority over other traits for selecting high yielding genotypes.