Studies on genetic divergence in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) under mid hill conditions of Solan District of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

Nature has endowed India with many precious gifts, wherein lies its immense potential for vegetable sector. Tomato is cultivated in different parts of the country, including states like Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab and Bihar. Nature and magnitude of variability for yield and other characters owing is an important basic pre-requisite for starting any systematic breeding programme to identify superior lines or varieties. Thus, this investigation was undertaken with thirty four diverse genotypes of tomato including check variety Solan Lalima. All the genotypes were grouped into 4 (I-IV) clusters. Maximum numbers of genotypes were accommodated in cluster III (16) followed by cluster IV (8), while cluster I and II were having 6 & 4 genotypes respectively. The maximum inter cluster distance was recorded between cluster II and IV (30.38) which indicated wide diversity between these two clusters, while lowest (17.09) was observed between cluster III and IV, indicating their close relationship. Therefore, the hybridization between the genotypes of cluster II and IV can be carried out for getting superior hybrids or recombinants in segregating populations.