Association and Path Coefficient Analysis among F2 Segregating Population of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L)

Abstract

Tomato is one of the most important vegetable crop grown by small farmers and commercial growers for both local uses as well as processing industries. So, it is important to increase its productivity along with desirable attributes through its genetic characters. Therefore, present experiment was conducted at the College of Agriculture, Vellayani, to evaluate the F2 segregating population of a tomato cross involving Anagha x IIHR 2896 for correlation and path analysis. Correlation analysis revealed that plant height, number of primary branches, plant spread, number of days to first flowering, number of days to first fruit harvest, number of fruits per plant, fruit weight, fruit volume, and number of locules were highly significant and positively correlated with fruit yield per plant. Path analysis revealed that the number of fruits per plant, fruit weight and fruit volume had a high positive direct effect on fruit yield per plant, followed by plant height and plant spread. However, the number of primary branches, the number of days to first flowering, the number of days to first fruit harvest and number of locules had a negative direct effect on fruit yield per plant. Hence, the characters showing positive correlation and direct effect should be given more emphasis in the selection programme for the development of superior varieties.