Tomato is a well-recognized and extensively cultivated crop on a global scale.
However, the development of tomato varieties is hindered by adverse environments, limited genetic diversity, and low rates of seed setting. In this study, researchers evaluated 21 genotypes at two different locations in Pakistan. We analyzed morphological traits including vine length, days to 50% flowering, days to fruit setting initiation, number of clusters per plant (NCP), and number of flowers per cluster (NFC); yield-related traits such as fruit setting percentage per cluster, fruit setting percentage per plant, number of marketable fruits per plant (NMFP), marketable fruit yield per plant (MFYP), number of fruits per cluster (NFPC), single fruit length, single fruit weight, and fruit width; and quality traits including fruit firmness at the pink class stage, total soluble solids, and pericarp thickness. The analysis revealed statistically significant differences (p < 0.01) among the tomato genotypes for all attributes examined. The examined parameters exhibited high broad-sense heritability, ranging from 84.59% to 99.88%. Correlation and structural equation modeling demonstrated significant relationships among MFYP, NFC, NCP, NFPC, and NMFP. Principal component analysis (PCA) provided further validation of these findings. PCA and correlation analyses indicated that NCP, NFC, NMFP, NFPC, and MFYP may be effective selection criteria for enhancing tomato quality.
Furthermore, the V4, V5, V10, V14, and V15 genotypes could be promising for future varietal development breeding programs.
Uzair, Muhammad & Kalsoom, Rabia & Attia, Kotb & Ali, Irfan & Hussain, Tanveer & Abushady, Asmaa & Ali, Haider & Fiaz, Sajid & Jameel, Saima & Hameed, Muhammad & Khan, Muhammad Ramzan & Hameed, Usman & Iqbal, Rashid. (2025). Understanding the role of thermal stress in modulating growth, yield, and quality attributes of tomato at two locations. Turk Tarim ve Ormancilik Dergisi/Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry. 49. 10.55730/1300-011X.3255.
Source: Research Gate