Determination of Local Cherry Tomato Genotypes' Agromorphological Features in Türkiye and Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to ascertain some morphological traits and interrelationships of 36 genotypes of cherry tomatoes that were gathered from Turkey and Kyrgyzstan. Measurements and observations include flower number of cluster, leaf length, leaf width, leaf attitude, fruit color, fruit neck shape, fruit cross-sectional shape, fruit weight, fruit firmness, time of maturity, number of locules, thickness of pericarp, and total soluable solid content, in accordance with the guidelines of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). The genotypes T40 (62.7 g), T24 (50.8 g), T107 (50 g), T103 (41.4 g), and T105 (40.8 g) had the highest average fruit weights, whereas T3 (9.4 g) and K1 (10.6 g) had the lowest fruit weights. The pericarp had an average thickness of 3.82 mm and an average of 2.49 locules. A spherical fruit cross-section was observed in 97.2% of genotypes. Genotype K2 had the highest total soluble solids content (TTSC%) at 9.4%, whereas genotype K13 had the lowest TTSC% at 3.1%. To measure the data, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used. Five separate principle component axes were identified via PCA, and these axes together account for 75.57% of the dataset's variation. These principal components' eigenvalues, which varied from 1.07 to 3.24, showed how much variance was accounted for by each component. The PCA results showed that the genotypes T107, T40, T105, and T87 performed better in PC1 in terms of the number of locules, fruit weight, fruit cross-sectional shape, and pericarp thickness characteristics. Fruit color was influenced by genotypes T90 and T142, fruit firmness by genotype T40, and total soluble solids content by genotype T98. The indigenous cherry tomato varieties from Turkey and Kyrgyzstan were shown to have a large amount of morphological variety, which may be useful for breeding initiatives in the future.