Genetic divergence and its implication in breeding tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) suitable for mid-hills of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

Genetic divergence among the 56 genotypes of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) collected from different geographical regions of India, was quantified by Mahalanobis D2 statistic for 14 quantitative and qualitative traits during the year 2014-15. Analysis of variance indicated that genotypes varied significantly among themselves in respect of 14 characters studied. Based on D2 analysis using Tocher's method all 56 genotypes were grouped into 10 clusters with a maximum of 13 genotypes in cluster VIII and minimum 1 in cluster III. Maximum inter-cluster distance was observed between cluster IV and VIII (2601.53) followed by cluster III and V (1981.92). Appreciable diversity within and between the clusters was observed. No parallelism was found between geographical and phenotypic diversity. Considering the cluster mean, the genotypes of cluster IV are suitable, both as open-pollinated varieties and as parents to be used in a hybridization programme. The five traits, viz. yield/plant, plant height, number of fruits/plant, days to first picking and average fruit weight contributed 87.33% to the total divergence and played the greatest role in differentiation of germplasm. These traits can be utilized for improving yield and obtaining good segregants in tomato breeding programs.