Phenotypic characterization of exotic tomato germplasm: An excellent breeding resource

Abstract

Tomato production in Pakistan faces significant problems of low yields due to various biotic and abiotic stresses primarily because of a narrow genetic base of the cultivars being used. Therefore, Introduction and evaluation of the exotic tomato germplasm has become necessary to acquire elite material to develop future breeding programs. To this end, the present study was conducted for the phenotypic characterization of twenty exotic tomato genotypes along with two locally grown cultivars in semi-arid subtropical climate. Data were collected for morphological, fruit quality and fruit yield traits. A significant (p<0.05) phenotypic variation was observed for all the studied traits. Maximum yield was obtained from “Rober” i.e., 1508.31 g per plant. The maximum shelf life was observed in the Cromco, with the least weight loss (2.45%) and loss in the firmness of fruit (22.61%) in 4 days. Correlation analyses revealed a strong genetic association among morphological and yield related traits. High estimates of the heritability (ranged from 79.77% to 95.01% for different traits), along with a high genetic advance (up to 34%) showed the potential usefulness of these traits and genotypes to develop breeding programs to improve the tomato yield and fruit quality.

Evaluation of Some Indeterminate Exotic Genotypes of Tomato.

“…Table 2 shows the results from the analysis of variance, which illustrated that the exotic genotypes and control were significantly different in terms of all the studied characters. Similar results were previously reported by other researchers (Kena et al 2018, Mahmoud and Khalil 2019, Hassan et al 2021.…”

“…The highest significant value was observed in both genotypes G.17 and G.7 (12.1), whereas the lowest was noticed in G.46 (6), with equal significance with the control (6.2). Significant differences between the examined lines for this character were recorded by Khan et al (2017), Kena et al (2018), Hassan et al (2021).…”

“…Tomato production faces the significant problem of low yield due to various biotic and abiotic stresses. Therefore, the introduction and evaluation of exotic tomato germplasm have become necessary to acquire elite materials to develop future breeding programs (Hassan et al 2021).…”

Artificial neural networks and genetic dissimilarity among saladette type dwarf tomato plant populations

“…It has been reported that tomato plant characteristics should be prioritized to obtain future cultivars, especially with regard to the various biotic ( Ferrero et al, 2020 , Zanin et al, 2021 ) and abiotic stressors ( Oliveira et al, 2021 , Wen et al, 2021 ), as well as the nutritional quality of the fruit ( Londoño-Giraldo et al, 2020 , Gomes et al, 2021 , Oliveira et al, 2022 ) for a healthy diet ( Asensio et al, 2019 ). A major obstacles to this is the narrow genetic base of the tomato germplasm ( Hassan et al, 2021 ).…”

Variability analysis in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) crosses under drought stress

“…Tomato is a genetically characterized species that can serve as an excellent model species for basic and applied research. This is because of various reasons, such as short duration, ease of cultivation, homozygosi-ty, high self-fertility, ease of hybridization and high reproductive potential (Hassan et al, 2021). Drought stress is the single most devasting stress among all environmental stresses that hampers crop growth and productivity, including tomatoes (Ilakiya et al, 2019).…”