Study of genetic variability and correlation analysis of quantitative traits in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

The present study was carried out with 58 genotypes of tomato during Kharif 2021 at Vegetable Experimental Field, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Science and Technology-Kashmir, Shalimar, Srinagar. The experiment was conducted in Randomized Block Design with three replications. Observations were recorded on five randomly selected competitive plants per replication for each entry on nineteen quantitative traits. The results revealed significant variation among genotypes for all the characters studied. Among all the genotypes, EC-165690 exhibited the highest fruit yield per hectare (q) and genotype EC-914109 exhibited the highest average fruit weight (kg). Average fruit weight (kg), fruit yield per plant (kg) and fruit yield per hectare (q) all had expected higher phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation (PCV and GCV). Fruit length (cm), fruit diameter (cm), days to first flowering, pericarp thickness (mm), average fruit weight (kg), fruit yield per hectare (q), and fruit yield per plant (kg) all had high heritability and genetic advance as percent of mean. Fruit yield per hectare (q) displayed positive correlation with pericarp thickness (mm), plant height (cm), average fruit weight (kg) and fruit yield per plant (kg). Average fruit weight (kg) displayed positive and significant correlation with fruit yield per plant (kg) and fruit yield per hectare (q). The findings suggested that average fruit weight (kg), fruit yield per plant (kg), pericarp thickness (mm), plant height (cm) and fruit yield per plant (kg) should be considered as important characters for improvement of tomato through selection.