EVALUATION FOR DIVERSITY IN GROWTH AND YIELD OF TOMATO (SOLANUM LYCOPERSICUM L.) GERMPLASM

Abstract

The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) fruit is quite popular and consumed in a variety of dishes across the globe. Despite the popularity, there is scarcity of information regarding characters that distinguishes varieties and often difficult to identify the germplasm with the best set of phenotypic characters from fruits available in the local market. In this study, five tomato germplasm, namely Roma Savannah, Tima, UTC, Dan Zaria and Tagino were collected from the Nasarawa State College of Agriculture, Lafia were evaluated at morphological levels in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with five replications at the Plant Science and Biotechnology Research Garden, Nasarawa State University, Keffi. The mean performance of five tomato varieties studied yield (fruits) and other agronomic traits were significantly different (P >0.05). The average results clarified that the Dan Zaria lines recorded the highest flowering values, as well as some fruit and vegetative growth traits. Furthermore, Tima, Tagino and UTC had the minimum number of fruits/plants, number of leaves, sub branches and flowers. In conclusion, the application for morphological techniques could be considered to provide suitable parameters for studying the evolution of the genetic divergence between the studied tomato lines.