Abstract
ABSTRACT Knowledge of the combining ability of genotypes, genetic diversity, and heterosis play the paramount role in obtaining double-cross hybrids with high productivity. This study was aimed at evaluating these parameters in tomato genotypes using partial diallel crosses among the commercial single-cross hybrids, which verified the possibility of using double-cross hybrids for commercial purposes. Tomato genotypes included 15 double-cross hybrids, their genitors, and two commercial genotypes as checks. Of the fifteen double-cross hybrids of tomato, two crosses exhibited superiority, such as Aguamiel × Compack and Dominador × Compack, mainly for the total and commercial fruit yields. The phenotypic expression of the trait is controlled by the genes with non-additive effects, whereas the genes with additive effects account for the genotypes of fruit mass, horizontal diameter, vertical diameter, and bunch insertion height. Regarding the genetic diversity, molecular analyses pointed out polymorphism for 79 percent of the evaluated loci evidencing a high genetic variability among the genitors. The heterosis values were low for most of the crosses, except for Forty × Plutão that represented 107 percent of heterosis for the total fruit yield. As compared with the commercial checks, the diallel cross generated superior quality hybrids, which inferred the possibility of obtaining double-cross hybrids of tomato with significant heterosis.
Highlights
The adoption of hybrid cultivars greatly boosted tomato production worldwide
The mean squares of the treatments were found to be significant by the F-test (p
The obtained averages of the traits were grouped according to their significance, and the treatments were arranged in three distinct groups after minimizing variations within and maximizing variations among the groups (Table 3)
Summary
The adoption of hybrid cultivars greatly boosted tomato production worldwide. As compared to the open-pollinated cultivars, hybrids with higher yields have features that contribute to better agronomic performances (Noonari et al, 2015; Rosa et al, 2019). These advantages depend on the traits of the genitors, which result from heterosis for desirable traits, such as yield potential and fruit quality. A crucial step to developing superior quality hybrids involves the selection of the best genitors. The use of double-cross tomato hybrids is still unusual among the farmers, probably because of the scarcity of information on the performance of traits of interest, such as yield and post-harvest components. Investigations confirmed that the doublecross hybrids showed rearrangement events leading to the genetic variability and, the phenotypic differences between the yield traits (Costa et al, 2016)
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