ASSESSMENT OF GENETIC DIVERSITY IN DETERMINATE TOMATO (SOLANUM LYCOPERSICUM L.) ACCESSIONS

Abstract

Present study was conducted to characterize 21 tomato accessions based upon ten yield components and fruit quality traits to select suitable parents for improving fresh fruit yield and quality. Experiment was conducted in triplicated randomized complete block design. Considerable genetic variation was observed in available germplasm for improving yield and quality of fresh fruit. First four principle components explained 78.3% of total variation. PC-1 and PC-2 were attributed to fruit yield and fruit quality respectively. PC-4 was defined by lycopene contents. Twenty one genotypes were grouped into 4 clusters based upon ward linkage and Euclidean distance. Genotypes of cluster 1 were late maturing with prolonged shelf life. High fruit yield characterized genotypes of cluster 4 with high mean value for number of fruit clusters per plant, number of fruits per plant and total soluble salts. Number of fruit clusters and fruits per plant were more important for improving fresh fruit yield than fresh fruit weight. Intercrossing between genotypes of cluster 1 and cluster 4 would be suitable breeding strategy for developing high yielding tomato cultivars with improved quality and shelf life