Abstract:
Twenty-five genotypes of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) were evaluated in a Complete
Randomized Design (CRD) with three replications at the net house of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural
University, Dhaka to study the variability, correlation and path co-efficient analysis from
October, 2021 to March, 2022 in Rabi season. The genotypes were found significantly variable
for all the characters studied. Comparatively phenotypic variance was higher than the genotypic
variance for all the characters. The high genotypic co-efficient of variation and phenotypic coefficient
of
variation
values
were
observed
for
yield
per
plant
(kg).
Maximum
difference
between
phenotypic
and
genotypic
co-efficient
of
variation
were
30.31
and
13.82.
Days
to
first
flowering,
days
to first
fruiting,
no.
of
primary
and
secondary
branches
per
plant, total
number
of
fruits
per
cluster,
skin diameter of fruit (mm), fruit pH, individual fruit wt. (g) and yield per plant (kg)
showed high heritability along with genetic advance in percentage of mean, indicating high
variability among these traits. The significant positive correlation with yield per plant (kg) was
found in number of fruits per cluster, individual fruit weight (g). Both genotypic and phenotypic
variance level indicated the importance of these traits in selection for increasing yield and were
identified as yield attributing characters. Thus, selection can be relied upon these characters for
the genetic improvement of yield for tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). According to path coefficient
analysis,
number
of
primary
branches
per
plant
had
the
lowest
positive
direct
effect
and
individual
fruit
weight
(g)
had
the
highest
positive
direct
effect
on
yield.
Days
to
first flowering,
plant
height
(cm), number of secondary branches per plant, total number of fruits per cluster,
individual fruit wt. (g) all had positive direct impact on yield per plant (kg), suggesting that direct
selection based on these traits may be useful in the development of high yielding tomato
genotypes. Considering genotypic variability and morphological characteristics of experimental
tomato genotypes G5, G6, G7, G8, G13, G16, G18, G20 and G21 might be suggested as parents
for future breeding program.
