Study of Character Association and Path Coefficient Analysis in Tomato Genotype to Improve the Yield and its Components

Abstract

An experiment was conducted using thirty-seven germplasms of tomato in three replication using randomized block design during the rabi (October-April) 2020–21 season to find out the association of character with weight of fruit/plant and yield contributing characters. The mean values of the different characters showed that genotypes 7053, 8105, 8202, 8623 and 8730 were higher for the fruit weight plant-1 (kg). At the genotypic level the relative weight of the fruit per plant showed a positive and significant correlation with the width of the fruit and the number of fruits per plant. At the phenotypic level of fruit size, the number of fruits per plant showed positive and significant correlation with the weight of the fruit per plant. In the case of direct effect two characters the width of the fruit and the number of fruits plant-1 showed a direct and positive correlation with the weight of the fruit plant-1 at the phenotypic level. The study provided an opportunity to identify the suitable genotypes and a detailed study of character association with path coefficient analysis found that some characters are directly associated with character yield (weight of fruit plant-1) improvement like number of fruit plant-1 followed by width of the fruit, plant height, number of branches, fruit width. So, all these traits can be use in further breeding program for tomato yield improvement.