Associations among Yield and Yield Component Characters of F2 Segregating Populations of Tomato Genotypes

Abstract

Tomato, is the most commercially significant vegetable cultivated in Ethiopia. However, its yield in Ethiopia remains below the global average. The creation of superior varieties is necessary to increase productivity, and this calls for comprehending the kind and extent of geneticdiversity as well as the degree of correlation between desired qualities. Therefore, the study was undertaken to elucidate the interrelationships among the evaluated traits of tomato genotypes. There have been few reports of tomato segregation variability, particularly in the study location. The study was conducted at Hareto and Shambu, Correlation and path coefficient analysis were therefore performed on a 5*2m plot with 28 F2 tomato genotypes for 11 yield contributing traits. ANOVA demonstrated that the traits exhibited statistically significant differences from one another. Correlation coefficients were calculated to determine the correlations between the traits under investigation. Individual fruit weight, total fruit weight per plant, and fruit diameter exhibited significant and positive genotypic and phenotypic associations with fruit yield. Notably, individual fruit weight (0.52) and total fruit yield per plant (1.02) demonstrated the most substantial direct effects on total yield. Conversely, pH (-0.39) and total soluble solids (TSS; -0.70) have adverse direct effects on fruit yield. The relatively small residual effect observed in the phenotypic path analysis (0.090) and the genotypic path coefficient (0.017) indicates that the analyzed traits collectively accounted for a substantial proportion of the variation in yield-related characteristics.