Combining ability for yield and quality attributes in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.)

Abstract

Ten diverse lines of tomato were crossed with three testers in line x tester mating fashion to study combining ability effects for yield and yield traits. The parent material was sown to raise F1 during rabi season of 2009-10 and the parents along with F1 were raised in rabi season of 2010-11 at Vegetable Research Farm, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. The analysis of variance revealed the predominance of non-additive gene action for all the traits. In respect of both gca and sea effects, the parents and hybrids differed significantly. Among the parents, Potato Leaf, Pant T-7, IC- 177371 and NOTVR- 60 were the best general combiners for improving plant height, yield per plant and other characters under study and these may be used as valuable donors in the hybridization programme for producing promising combinations. Among the crosses, RCMT-2 × VR-20, LCT-6 × VR-20 and Azad-T-5 × VR-20 were the most valuable specific combiners for yield per plant and other characters under study.