Vol. 11, Issue 1 (2022)

Author(s):
Mukul and K Shrivastav

Abstract:
The presence of adequate genetic variability and its critical analysis are needed for initiating any crop improvement program and for adopting appropriate selection techniques. An investigation was carried out to know the extent of genetic variability present in thirty genotypes of tomato during rabi season. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences for all the 20 quantitative traits, indicating the presence of genetic variability among the genotypes. The magnitude of PCV was slightly higher than GCV for the traits viz., days to first flowering, days to 50% flowering, days to 50% fruiting, primary branches, secondary branches, plant height, clusters/plant, flowers/cluster, fruits/cluster, fruits/plant, pericarp thickness, locule number, seed index, average fruit weight, fruit shape index, juice-pulp ratio, total soluble solids, yield/plant, lycopene and Carotene indicating the considerable influence of the environment on the expression of the traits. The estimates of PCV and GCV were moderate to high for the traits viz., days to first flowering, primary branches, secondary branches, plant height, clusters/plant, flowers/cluster, flowers/cluster, fruits/cluster, fruits/plant, pericarp thickness, locule number, seed index, average fruit weight, fruit shape index, juice-pulp ratio, fruit yield/Plant, lycopene and caroteneindicating the influence of the environment rather than the genotype alone. Moderate high to medium broad-sense heritability estimates observed for most of the traits suggests that selection for these traits can be achieved directly based on their phenotypic performance. The low broad sense heritability observed for total soluble solids indicative of the influence of the environment on this trait. The low heritability of this trait indicates the ineffectiveness of direct selection for this trait. The heritability and genetic advance estimates were moderate for most of the traits indicating the influence of additive gene action; as such selection would likely be effective for improvement of these traits.