Correlation and path co-efficient analysis for yield and its contributing traits in Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

Forty-three genotypes were studied for correlation and path co-efficient analysis in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) at Horticultural Research centre, Department of Horticulture, Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Jabalpur (M.P.) during Rabi 2019-2020. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications. Fruit yield had a positive significance correlation was associated with traits like average fruit weight, fruit length, number of fruits per plant, plant height at 120 DAT, days to 50% flowering and number of days to first picking. Strong association of these traits revealed that the selection based on these traits would ultimately improve the fruit yield. Hence, due weightage should be given to these characters while selecting the germplasm in crop improvement. In path coefficient analysis fruit yield per plant showed that number of fruits per plant, average fruit weight, number of fruits per cluster, number of primary branches per plant, fruit length, days to first flowering and fruit width observed positive direct effect at both genotypic and phenotypic level. These characters contribute maximum to high fruit yield compared to other characters, thus selection for these characters help in selection of superior tomato genotypes.