Heterosis for quality traits in tomato

Abstract

Quality improvement of bacterial wilt resistant / tolerant tomato accessions was attempted by crossing with selected processing varieties. The Fl hybrids which showed the highest per se performance were Sakthi x HW 208 (9.18%) for total solids, Sakthfx HW 208F for insoluble solids (0.91%) and consistency (0.31), LE 206 x St 64 (7.0%) for TSS and LE 206 x Ohio 8129 (11.66 mg lOOg'1) for lycopene. Highest significant heterobeltiosis was expressed by the Fl hybrids Sakthi x TH 318 (for total solids), LE 206 x St 64 (for TSS, lycopene) and Sakthi x Fresh Market 9 (for consistency). The Fl hybrids, though showed improved fruit quality in terms of uniform ripening, high lycopene and total solids and resistance to cracking, were completely susceptible to bacterial wilt. Bacterial wilt resistant segregates with desirable fruit quality could be isolated from the F2 generation.