Assessment of Cherry Tomato Cultivars (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme) for Genetic Variability under Protected Environment

Fourteen genotypes of cherry tomato were evaluated under modified naturally ventilated polyhouse at the Experimental Farm, Department of Vegetable Science and Floriculture, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur during autumn winter season, 2017-2018 for marketable yield and its component traits to assess the morphological diversity among the genotypes. Based on the mean performance, genotypes viz. Solan Red Round, IC-383117 and EC-383109 were found superior for marketable fruit yield, number of marketable fruits per plant, number of fruits per cluster, number of nodes per plant and plant height among all the genotypes evaluated. Sufficient genetic variability was observed for almost all the traits studied. High PCV, GCV, heritability and genetic advance were observed for number of fruits per cluster and lycopene contents. Hence, it was inferred that there is better scope for improvement of these traits through direct selection.