Studies on Variability, Heritability and Genetic Advance in Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicon L.)

A field experiment was conducted at CCSHAU, Hisar during spring-summer 2013 to study the genetic variability, Heritability and Genetic Advance for quantitative and qualitative traits in tomato. With 27 genotypes including two checks in randomized block design with three replications. A high degree of significant variation was observed for all the characters studied except for number of branches, ascorbic acid and equatorial diameter of fruit. Moderate to high GCV and PCV, high heritability with high genetic advance observed for most of the yield attributing characters. High estimate GCV and PCV was recorded for number of locules per fruit, number of fruits per truss and plant height. High heritability was noticed in characters like total soluble solids, fruit yield per plant and number of fruits per plant. Genetic advance as percent of mean were recorded very high for number of locules per fruit followed by number of fruits per truss, and number of trusses per plant. Hence, it would be rewarding to lay stress on these characters for yield improvement.