Per se performance of parents and f₁ hybrids for growth, yield and quality traits of tomato

Introduction

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the important vegetable crops belonging to the family Solanaceae, commonly known as the nightshade family. The family comprises more than 3000 species. The S. esculentum complex comprises seven species that are readily crossable with cultivated tomato and have served as valuable sources of genetic variability for tomato improvement (Mueller et al., 2005) [15] . Tomato possesses a distinctive nutritional and phytochemical composition, providing important nutrients and bioactive compounds such as vitamin C, vitamin A in the form of carotenoids, dietary fibre, potassium and the antioxidant lycopene.These compounds contribute to the nutritional and health-promoting value of tomato and have been associated with beneficial effects such as blood purification and protection against certain types of cancer (Burton-Freeman and Reimers, 2011) [6] . In addition, the presence of various phytochemicals in tomato fruits may influence post-harvest characteristics, including shelf life and uniformity of ripening, and can help reduce postharvest losses (Arah et al., 2015; Pavan et al., 2022) [3,17] . Tomato is an important vegetable crop grown widely across the world and is valued for its taste, nutritional content and diverse uses. It is cultivated on about 4.76 million hectares globally, with an annual production of nearly 182 million tonnes. (Esposito et al. 2020) [10] . The major tomato producing states in the country are Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra.

These states account for 91% of the total production of the country. Area under tomato cultivation in India is around 8.48 lakh Ha and production is estimated to be 203.97 lakh T (Anonymous 2024-25) [2] . Growth attributes such as plant height, number of primary branches and leaf area provide an indication of the vegetative development and overall plant architecture. Flower production and fruit set are important components of fruit-bearing ability, while fruit diameter, fruit weight, number of fruits and yield per plant are directly associated with the productive performance of a genotype. In addition to yield, fruit quality plays an important role in determining consumer acceptance and post-harvest performance. Traits such as total soluble solids, titratable acidity, shelf life, locule number, pericarp thickness and fruit firmness are therefore important considerations in tomato improvement programmes (Bertin and Génard, 2018; Bhat et al., 2022) [4,5] . Mean performance, or per se evaluation, is one of the basic yet important steps in the characterization of breeding material. It provides an initial understanding of the performance of different genotypes and helps in identifying those with desirable phenotypic characteristics before undertaking detailed genetic analyses. In the present study, the selected tomato parents and their F₁ hybrids were evaluated based on their mean performance for a range of growth, flowering, fruit, yield and quality traits. The evaluation was aimed at understanding the extent of variation among the genotypes and identifying parents and hybrids that performed well for specific desirable traits.

Materials and Methods

Experimental material

The experimental material consisted of eight parental lines, namely TBC-2-3, TBC-2-4, TBC-2-5, TBC-2-6, TBC-2-8, TBC-2-9, TD-13 and TD-16, and three testers, namely Arka Vikas, Kashmir-1 and PKM-1 and the eight lines were crossed with three testers to produce twenty four F₁ hybrids.

Traits Observed

Observations were taken for growth and flowering parameters which are plant height, number of primary branches per plant, leaf area, number of flowers per cluster where plant height was measured at 30, 60 and 90 days after transplanting (DAT), number of primary branches was recorded per plant and leaf area was expressed in cm², flower number was recorded per cluster. Yield and yield contributing characters consisted of fruit set as percentage, fruit diameter in centi-meter, average fruit weight in grams, number of fruits per cluster and number of fruits per plant, yield was expressed as kilogram per plant. Quality parameters included were Total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity and shelf life, number of locules, pericarp thickness and fruit firmness were recorded and evaluated.

Mean performance of parents and F₁ hybrids

Growth and flowering traits Considerable variation was observed among the parental genotypes and their F₁ hybrids for growth and flowering characters, indicating the presence of useful variability for these traits. Plant height showed a progressive increase from 30 to 90 days after transplanting, although the magnitude of increase differed among genotypes. Among the Testers, Arka Vikas recorded the highest plant height at 30 DAT (41.95 cm) and 60 DAT (81.88 cm), while PKM-1 attained the highest plant height at 90 DAT (110.49 cm). Among the lines, TBC-2-9 showed comparatively greater plant height at 60 and 90 DAT (73.81 and 112.06 cm, respectively), suggesting better vegetative growth and sustained plant development. The hybrids generally showed greater plant height than their respective parents at different stages, although the magnitude varied with the cross combination. TD-13 × Arka Vikas recorded the highest plant height at 30 DAT (54.49 cm), whereas TBC-2-6 × Arka Vikas was the tallest hybrid at 60 DAT (104.40 cm). At 90 DAT, TBC-2-6 × Kashmir-1 recorded the maximum plant height (126.41 cm), closely followed by TD-13 × Arka Vikas (124.94 cm) and TBC-2-3 × Kashmir-1 (123.99 cm). These differences indicate that the choice of parental combination had a noticeable influence on vegetative growth. The variation observed in plant height at different stages of crop growth in the present study was in agreement with the findings of Renuka et al. (2019) [18] and Pavan et al. (2022) [17] who reported significant differences in plant height among tomato genotypes and their F₁ hybrids. Number of primary branches also differed among genotypes. Among the parents, TBC-2-4 had the highest number of primary branches (5.40), followed by TBC-2-9 (5.33), while among the hybrids, TBC-2-5 × Kashmir-1 recorded the maximum number of primary branches (6.90).

A greater number of branches can provide more sites for flowering and fruit development and may therefore contribute indirectly to productivity. Leaf area varied within a relatively narrow range among the genotypes. The highest leaf area among the parents was observed in TBC-2-3 (30.81 cm²), while TBC-2-4 × Arka Vikas recorded the highest leaf area among hybrids (30.92 cm²). The results obtained for the number of primary branches per plant were in accordance with the findings of Bhat et al. (2022) [5] and Pavan et al. (2022) [17] , who also reported considerable variation among tomato genotypes for the traits. Flower number per cluster also showed appreciable variation. Among the parents, Kashmir-1 recorded the highest number of flowers per cluster (6.75), closely followed by TD-13 (6.60) and TBC-2-9 (6.55). Among the hybrids, TBC-2-9 × PKM-1 recorded the highest value (7.80), along with TD-13 × Kashmir-1 (7.80). The relatively higher flower production in these combinations may be useful for increasing fruit-bearing potential, although actual yield would also depend on fruit set and subsequent fruit development. The results of flower per cluster was in accordance with findings of Renuka et al. (2019) [18] .

Yield and yield-contributing traits Marked variation was observed among parents and F₁ hybrids for fruit set, fruits per cluster, fruit diameter, average fruit weight, number of fruits per plant and yield per plant. Among the parental genotypes, TBC-2-3 recorded the highest fruit set (72.80%), while TD-16 had the highest fruit diameter (5.65 cm), average fruit weight (65.51 g) and yield per plant (2.36 kg). TBC-2-6 produced the highest number of fruits per plant (123.01), indicating its potential for high fruit-bearing capacity despite having comparatively smaller fruits. TD-13 recorded the highest number of fruits per cluster (6.55) among the lines, while Kashmir-1 recorded 6.40 fruits per cluster among the testers. The hybrids displayed substantial differences in yield components, demonstrating that parental combinations strongly influenced fruit production. The highest fruit set was recorded in TBC-2-9 × Arka Vikas (81.00%), followed by TD-13 × PKM-1 (78.00%) and TBC-2-5 × PKM-1 (76.00%). In terms of fruits per cluster, TBC-2-4 x Kashmir-1 recorded the highest value (7.60), followed by TBC-2-9 x PKM-1 (7.40), TBC-2-5 x Arka Vikas and TBC-2-5 x Kashmir-1(6.60) findidngs showed similar results as Ghadge et al. (2019) [11] and Khar and Arti (2019) [14] . Fruit size and fruit weight varied considerably among the hybrids. TD-16 × PKM-1 recorded the highest fruit diameter (7.45 cm) and was also superior for yield per plant (3.09 kg). Other promising hybrids for yield included TBC-2-5 × PKM-1 (2.61 kg), TBC-2-8 × PKM-1 (2.43 kg), TD-16 × Arka Vikas (2.42 kg) and TD-13 × PKM-1 (2.41 kg) similar results were also observed by Chauhan et al. (2014) [8] , Ghadge et al. (2019) [11] , Bhat et al. (2022) [5] and Renuka et al. (2019) [18] . The number of fruits per plant also contributed to differences in yield. TBC-2-6 × Arka Vikas recorded the highest number of fruits per plant (118.01), followed by TBC-2-4 × Kashmir-1 (99.24). These crosses did not record the highest yield due to presence of variation in fruit sizes in parental as well as F 1 genotypes, indicating that fruit number alone was not sufficient to determine overall productivity. In contrast, crosses involving TD-16, particularly TD-16 × PKM-1, combined relatively high fruit size-related performance with greater yield per plant.The present findings are in agreement with the earlier reports of Naorem et al. (2012) [16] , Chauhan et al. (2014) [8] , Ghadge et al.

(2019) [11] , Renuka et al. (2019) [18] , Bhat et al. (2022) [5] and Pavan et al. (2022) [17] who observed considerable variation in the number of fruits per plant among tomato parents and F₁ hybrids and identified superior genotypes for this trait. However, Kanthaswamy et al. (1989) [13] reported a reduction in the number of fruits per plant in certain tomato crosses. Such differences in fruit number among crosses may be attributed to the presence and interaction of favourable and unfavourable genes governing this trait in the parental genotypes involved. Thus, the yield data clearly demonstrated differences among cross combinations. TD-16 × PKM-1 emerged as one of the most promising hybrids for overall yield performance of 3.09 kg, while other crosses showed specific superiority for fruit set, fruit number or individual fruit characteristics. Such crosses may be useful in further breeding programmes aimed at combining desirable yield components. The results of the present investigation are in accordance with the findings of Chauhan et al. (2014) [8] , Ghadge et al. (2019) [11] , Renuka et al. (2019) [18] , Bhat et al. (2022), [5] Pavan et al. (2022) [17] and Singh et al. (2022) [19] who reported superior fruit yield in selected tomato F₁ hybrids compared with their respective parental genotypes and evaluated checks.

Quality traits

The parental and hybrid genotypes also showed considerable variation for quality attributes, including total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity, shelf life, number of locules, pericarp thickness and fruit firmness. Among the parents, the available data showed differences in TSS, acidity and post-harvest characteristics, indicating variation in fruit quality. TD-16 was particularly notable among the parental material for fruit firmness, while the testers also differed considerably for shelf life and other quality parameters. Among the F₁ hybrids, TD-16 × Arka Vikas recorded the highest TSS (7.85 °Brix), followed by TBC-2-8 × Arka Vikas (7.40 °Brix) and TBC-2-4 × Kashmir-1 (7.30 °Brix). Higher TSS is generally desirable because it contributes to better soluble-solids content and can improve the eating quality and processing value of tomato fruits.TD-16 × PKM-1 recorded the highest shelf life (16.11 days), suggesting better potential for maintaining fruit quality after harvest. Variation was seen in titratable acidity. The hybrids ranged from 0.25 to 0.42 percent, with TBC-2-5 × Arka Vikas showing the highest acidity (0.42%), while TBC-2-9 × Kashmir-1 recorded the lowest value (0.25%). Differences in acidity may influence the balance between sweetness and sourness and therefore contribute to consumer acceptance and processing quality. The number of locules and pericarp thickness also differed among the hybrids. TD-16 × PKM-1 recorded the highest number of locules (5.50) and the greatest pericarp thickness (5.55 mm). These characteristics may be useful where firm, fleshy fruits with better structural strength are desired. Fruit firmness was highest in TBC-2-5 × Kashmir-1 (1.11 N), followed by TBC-2-4 × PKM-1 (1.04 N), while TD-16 × Kashmir-1 also showed relatively high firmness (0.86 N). Taken as whole, the quality traits showed that different hybrids possessed different combinations of desirable characteristics. TD-16 × Arka Vikas was notable for TSS, whereas TD-16 × PKM-1 was particularly promising for shelf life, locule number and pericarp thickness. TBC-2-5 × Kashmir-1 showed comparatively high fruit firmness. These hybrids therefore provide useful material for selecting combinations with improved fruit quality and post-harvest performance. The present investigation was in close agreement with the findings of Joshi et al. (2005) [12] , Droka (2012) [9] , Agarwal et al.

(2014) [1] , Chandanshive and Rana (2015) [7] , Renuka et al.

(2019) [18] , Bhat et al. (2022), [5] Pavan et al. (2022) [17] and Singh et al. (2022) [19] .

Conclusion

The present investigation revealed considerable variation among the evaluated tomato genotype consisting eight tomato lines, three testers and twenty-four F₁ hybrids for growth, yield and quality traits, indicating good potential for further improvement through breeding. Among the growth traits, Arka Vikas and PKM-1 performed better for plant height, while the hybrids TBC-2-6 × Kashmir-1 and TD-13 × Arka Vikas recorded the greatest plant height, suggesting better vegetative vigour in these combinations.

For yield and its contributing traits, TD-16 was identified as the most promising parent, showing the highest fruit diameter, average fruit weight and yield per plant. TBC-2-6 also performed well, particularly for number of fruits per plant, although its overall yield was moderate. Among the hybrids, TD-16 × PKM-1 was the most outstanding combination. It recorded the highest average fruit weight (81.15 g), fruit diameter (7.45 cm) and yield per plant (3.09 kg) and also showed desirable values for shelf life, locule number and pericarp thickness. These attributes make this hybrid particularly promising for further evaluation and potential commercial use. Other combinations, including TBC-2-5 × PKM-1, TBC-2-8 × PKM-1, TD-13 × PKM-1 and TD-16 × Arka Vikas, also showed good yield performance and could be considered as promising alternatives.

The hybrids also differed considerably for fruit quality traits. TD-16 × Arka Vikas recorded the highest total soluble solids, whereas TBC-2-5 × Kashmir-1 showed the greatest fruit firmness. This indicates that desirable quality attributes were distributed among different hybrid combinations rather than being concentrated in a single genotype.

Overall, the study identified TD-16 and PKM-1 as valuable parents for tomato improvement, while TD-16 × PKM-1 emerged as the most promising hybrid for combining high yield with desirable fruit quality. These genotypes may therefore be effectively utilised in future breeding programmes aimed at developing high-yielding tomato hybrids with improved fruit quality and post-harvest keeping ability.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementI would like to thank Dr. V. S. Kale, Professor, and Dr. A. M. Sonkamble, Professor and Head, Department of Vegetable Science, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola, for their guidance and support throughout this work, and the Department of Vegetable Science, Dr. PDKV, Akola, for the facilities that made this investigation possible.

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