Studies on the Effect of Heterosis for Yield and Yield Contributing Plant Traits in Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

A set of 24 cross combinations were developed through Line × Tester mating system involving 11 diverse genotypes of tomato and observations were taken for yield and yield attributing characters to study the extent of heterosis in the crosses. Tomato is an autogamous crop and has originated in the Peru region of South America. The experiment was conducted in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. The analysis of variance revealed that there was a significant genotypic difference among the genotypes under study, showing considerable amount of genetic variability among them. The lines under study were found significant for all traits under consideration. Significant differences due to testers were observed for all traits except days to 50% flowering, number of primary branches per plant and number of fruits per plant.Out of 24 combinations 10 crosses showed significant negative heterosis over better parent for days to 50% flowering and cross VRT-101-A × Pant T-5 (-15.96%) followed by CTS-07 × Arka Abha (-15.73%) and Angha × Pant T-5 (-13.83%) recorded maximum negative significant heterosis. The cross combination Solan Vajra × Arka Abha, CTS-07 × Arka Abha and VRT-101-A × Arka Abha exhibited maximum per cent of positive significant heterobeltiosis in the extent of 23.30, 19.22 and 16.62% respectively in case of fruit yield.