Correlation and path analysis studies in bacterial wilt resistant F₆ progenies of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

Studies on correlation and path coefficient were conducted in field evaluation trial of 12 bacterial wilt resistant F₆ progenies of tomato along with three resistant checks viz., Palam Pink, Palam Pride and SUN 7711, planted in randomized block design with three replications during summer-rainy season of 2008. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the progenies for all the traits studied viz., days to 50% flowering, days to first harvest, plant height, total fruits/plant, marketable fruits/plant, average fruit weight, gross yield/plant and marketable yield/plant. Significant positive correlation of marketable fruit yield/plant was found with total fruits/plant (0.781 and 0.779), marketable fruits/plant(0.882 and 0.883), gross yield/plant(0.932 and 0.979) and plant height(0.712 and 0.724) and significant negative association with average fruit weight(−0.540 and -0.552) at both phenotypic and genotypic levels. Path coefficient analysis revealed that marketable fruits per plant had the maximum positive direct contribution towards marketable yield per plant followed by gross yield per plant while the maximum negative direct contribution was of total fruits per plant.