Genetic Assessment of Diverse Tomato Species for Yield and Quality Traits under Polyhouse Conditions

Background: Climate change has an adverse impact on tomato yield and fruit quality, as elevated and fluctuating temperatures directly affects the flowering, fruit set and overall quality attributes. Furthermore, water stress disposes plants to pathogen attack and results in wilting or abscission of leaves, flowers and fruits. In this context, the present investigation was undertaken to evaluate wild and contemporary tomato genotypes in order to identify the most promising genotype for cultivation under polyhouse conditions. Methods: Eleven genotypes of tomato were collected from different sources and the data were recorded from twenty-one yield contributing characters. The statistical analysis was followed to test the significant difference to compare among the means of significant traits. The correlations analysis, path analysis and PCA analysis were done using R studio software version 2023.03.1+446 and cluster analysis was done with the help of Star software version 2.0.1 Result: The highest phenotypic and genotypic coefficients of variation were observed for lycopene content (73.29% and 73.36%) and average fruit weight (77.92% and 78.00%). The top-most heritability was marked for number of fruits/plant (99.98%) with genetic advance 92.24%. PCA-Biplot and mean performance indicates that genotype 538408 has higher polar diameter, yield/plant, pericarp thickness and average fruit weight. Principal component analysis represents yield/plant, polar fruit diameter, pericarp thickness, average fruit weight, number of locules/fruit, equatorial fruit diameter, β-carotene and lycopene content reflected a positive contribution towards genetic divergence. Thus, this will be helpful for breeders to choose the desirable traits of tomato for future breeding program.