Morphological characterization of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) genotypes

Most of the tomato varieties in Bangladesh are of inbred type indicating need to characterize and assess morphological variability as the resources of selection of genotypes with desired traits toward variety development. Twenty-two promising tomato inbred lines were characterized for twenty-seven morphological traits using developmental, vegetative, and fruit traits at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) Bangladesh from October 2009 to March 2010. A wide range of variation was observed among 21 qualitative and 6 quantitative physico-morphological characters in the study, while 20 traits showed substantial variation among the genotypes. Every genotype showed one or more distinct characters which could be used to identify the same. The morphological data for hypocotyl color, hypocotyl pubescence, leaf type, green shoulder trips in the fruit and fruit cross-sectional shape showed valuable diagnostic characters, which can be used to differentiate the genotypes as they were predominant in the study. However, it is difficult to distinguish all the genotypes based on a single morphological trait, but can enhance tomato diversity and quality and production.