Evaluation of promising tomato hybrids having resistance to late blight and root knot nematodes in diverse agroclimatic zones of Punjab

Six promising F₁ hybrids of tomato developed using parental lines resistant to late blight (LB) and root knot nematodes (RKN) along with two check hybrids (TH-1 and Shivaji) were evaluated during 2016–17 at three diverse locations of Punjab, India. Four round fruited experimental hybrids viz. TH-1014, TH-1214, TH-1514 and TH-2114 were resistant to LB and RKN when screened under artificial conditions, whereas, two hybrids viz. TH-925 and TH-1925 were moderately resistant to LB and moderately susceptible to RKN. The check hybrids viz., TH-1 and Shivaji were highly susceptible to LB and susceptible to RKN. The G × E interaction was non-significant for total yield, fruit weight and pericarp thickness. The pooled analysis revealed that the hybrid TH-1014 produced the maximum yield (72.8 t ha⁻¹) that was at par with TH-1214 (67.2 t ha⁻¹) and manifested 58.3% and 46.1% heterosis over TH-1 and 22.4% and 12.9% over Shivaji, respectively. In respect of fruit weight, hybrid TH-1014 exhibited non-significant heterosis whereas TH-1214 recorded 15.5% and 10.5% heterosis over TH-1 and Shivaji, respectively. Besides, TH-1214 manifested slightly better flavour attributes i.e. locule number and pericarp thickness than TH-1014 and was, therefore, considered superior to TH-1014.