Variability, heritability and genetic advance for yield and yield related traits in Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)

The present investigation was conducted at Horticulture Research Centre, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut (UP) 250110 during rabi season in 2018-19 and 2019-2020. During the study the analysis of variance for 36 genotypes of tomato in the randomized block design and revealed significant difference for all the 10 characters, this indicated the presence of wide spectrum of variability among the genotypes. The phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) was higher than the respective genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) for all the traits, a narrow difference between PCV and GCV were recorded for most of the traits except for days to 50% flowering and number of branches. The high GCV(>25%) was recorded for the traits number of fruits per plant (69.33). and The high PCV (>25%) was recorded for the traits number of fruits per plant (69.67). High heritability and genetic advance as per cent of mean were observed for all ten characters. The highest heritability was recorded in number of fruits per plant (99.02) and lowest for number of branches (70.27). Highest genetic advance as per cent of mean was highest for fruit yield per plant (96.73). Variability studies suggest that the characters like days to 50% flowering, days to first fruit set, days to first fruit maturity, plant height (cm), number of fruits per plant (g), fruit weight (g) and fruit yield per plant (g) can be used in hybridization programme for obtaining superior and desired recombinants for particular trait in tomato crop.