Morphological markers for identification of hybrids and their parental lines in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum)

Abstract

Four hybrids, viz, PH-1, 2, 4 and 8 and their parental lines were studied for developing identification keys using morphological characters. Out of 39 characters studied, fourteen qualitative and six quantitative characters were polymorphic for identifying the parents from the hybrids and also among themselves. Characters like stem anthocyanin pigmentation on upper one-third portion, fruit green shoulder, leaflet petiole attitude with respect to main axis, leaf serration, stem pubescence, fruit shape at blossom end, fruit shape in longitudinal section and stigma lobes were important for development of identification keys. These characters were stable during two growing seasons (rabi 2014-15 and rabi 2015-16) and no variation was observed for any character in any genotype. A combination of these morphological markers could effectively utilized for distinguishing all the hybrids and their parental lines under study.