ASSESSMENT OF GENETIC VARIABILITY OF THREE TOMATO GENOTYPES (LYCOPERSICON ESCULENTUM L.) USING PHENOTYPIC PARAMETERS AND GENETIC MARKERS

Abstract

The tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) is one of the most significant vegetable crops cultivated all over the world. It gives both pro-vitamin A and vitamin C to the human diet and provides high economic value to producers and breeding industries in many countries. Three tomato genotypes (NGB00692, NGB00714 and NGB00749) were assessed using phenotypic parameters such as height, number of branches, fruits and leaves to determine the genetic variability among the genotypes. The unique codes are identifiers that are assigned to each tomato genotype developed by National Centre for Genetic Resource and Biotechnology (NACGRAB). These codes are used to track and distinguish the different genotypes. There was significant difference (P<0.05) among the three genotypes for all the measured parameters which suggested there was much genetic variability among the three genotypes. The genetic distance (GD) among the three cultivars as estimated using three Simple Sequence Repeat Markers (Tom 41-42TCC6, Tom 49-50 AT10 and Tom 57-58CT8) showed the highest GD between NGB00714 and NGB00749 (0.25); least GD was between NGB00692 and NGB00749 (0.07) and between NGB00692 and NGB00714 (0.20). These values showed that the cultivars were all closely related and influenced by the environment. Thus, are promising candidates for selection of tomato cultivars for breeding programmes?