Journal of
Agricultural Biotechnology and Sustainable Development

  • Abbreviation: J. Agric. Biotech. Sustain. Dev.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 2141-2340
  • DOI: 10.5897/JABSD
  • Start Year: 2009
  • Published Articles: 144

Full Length Research Paper

Characterization of tomato germplasm accessions for breeding research

Francis Kamau Kathimba
  • Francis Kamau Kathimba
  • Department of Plant Science and Crop Protection, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences, University of Nairobi, P. O. Box 29053-00625, Nairobi, Kenya.
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Paul Macharia Kimani
  • Paul Macharia Kimani
  • Department of Plant Science and Crop Protection, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences, University of Nairobi, P. O. Box 29053-00625, Nairobi, Kenya.
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Rama Devi Narla
  • Rama Devi Narla
  • Department of Plant Science and Crop Protection, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences, University of Nairobi, P. O. Box 29053-00625, Nairobi, Kenya.
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Leonard Muriithi Kiirika
  • Leonard Muriithi Kiirika
  • Department of Horticulture and Food Security, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, P. O. Box 62000-00200, Nairobi, Kenya.
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  •  Received: 05 July 2021
  •  Accepted: 03 August 2021
  •  Published: 31 August 2021

Abstract

Although tomato is the leading vegetable crop in Kenya, not much work has been done to develop improved tomato varieties with farmer preferred and market demanded traits. This study aims to characterize ten tomato genotypes for morphological and agronomic traits and to identify potential parental lines for use in the breeding program. The experiments were conducted in Kenya during the 2017 long and short rain seasons. Trials were laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. Study materials were AVTO1429, AVTO1424, AVTO1314 from World Vegetable Center, four commercial varieties namely; Riogrande, Cal J, Roma VF, UC82 and three farmer selections namely; Valoria, Danny and Eden select. Genotype effects, genotype x environment interactions and location effects for days to flowering, plant height, maturity, fruit yield and related traits were highly significant (P<0.01). Duration of flowering varied from 36 to 42 days; plant height from 66.37 to 182.57cm, duration to maturity from 85 to 100 days, and fruit yield from 18.3 to 55.7 t ha-1. All the genotypes showed a determinate growth habit except AVTO1314 which had indeterminate growth habit. Genotype AVTO1429, AVTO1424 and AVTO1314 had green stem while commercial varieties and farmers’ selection had purple stem. The high genetic variation observed among the test genotypes for the traits evaluated can be exploited in developing the tomato breeding program.

Key words: Tomato, accessions, characterization, flowering, morphological traits, agronomic traits.

Abbreviation

AVRDC: Asian Vegetable Research and Development Centre; ha: Hectares; t: tons; cm: centimeter; mm: millimeter; AEZ: Agro-ecological zones; ASL: Above Sea Level; AVRDC: World Vegetable Centre; IPGRI: International Plant Genetic Resources Institute; ANOVA: Analysis of Variance

Copyright © 2024 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article.

This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0

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