Assessment of Genetic Variability in Solanum lycopersicum L. Genotypes for Yield and Yield Attributing Traits

Laiba Ashraf*1, Laiba Saher2, Samia Rashid1, Amir Shakeel1, Hafiza Faiza Ghous1 and Ali Asghar1

1Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan 2Agricultural Biotechnology Division, National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE), Jhang Road, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan

Abstract

Tomato is a self-pollinated crop belongs to family Solanaceae. It is important for its fresh fruit market and is an ample source of vitamins A, C, and lycopene. Due to its nutritional value, tomato demand is continuously increasing. A study was conducted at the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad to study the genetic variability among tomato genotypes for fruit and yield related traits. Eighteen genotypes of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) were studied in this experiment. The objectives of this study were to assess yield and yield attributing traits. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant amount of genetic variability among genotypes for traits under studied except plant height which showed significant results. High heritability was observed for no. of fruits/cluster, total fruit yield/plant, individual fruit weight, no. of fruits/plant, and no. of clusters/plant indicating that selection of these traits were effective for genetic improvement. Principal component analysis result exhibited that the first four principal components had Eigen value >1 out of six principal component analyses, contributing 84% of the total variance. Cluster analysis grouped 18 tomato genotypes into four clusters. Cluster I had the maximum cluster mean value for plant height while cluster III showed highest cluster mean value for pericarp thickness and cluster IV had the maximum cluster mean value for stem diameter. CLN-2001-A (2354.0), CLN-1621-L (2235.0), LO-4379 (1411.7) and PB-LO-2752 (1408) had better yield output among all the eighteen genotypes under studied.