Studies on genetics of shelf-life in tomato

The diallel analysis was done in eight diverse lines of tomato to study genetics of shelf-life and related traits. The lines found to be good general combiners were UHF-107, UHF-120 andFT-5 for pericarp thickness; UHF-107 and UHF-260 for number of locules per fruit; FT-5 and Solan Vajr for fruit firmness; UHF-265, FT-5 and Solan Vajr for total soluble solids and FT-5, UHF-260 and UHF-120 for shelf-life. The best three specific combiners for shelf-life were UHF-265 x UHF-260, BL-342-1 × EC-191536 and UHF-265 × FT-5. Predominance of additive gene effects was observed with partial dominance towards higher fruit firmness, fewer locules per fruit and longer shelf-life, while prominent role of non-additive effects was found with over dominance towards thicker pericarp and higher total soluble solids.