Performance evaluation of cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicum var. cerasiforme) genotypes for growth, yield and quality traits under naturally ventilated polyhouse

A field experiment was conducted during the rabi season of 2023-2024 at the Department of Vegetable Science, College of Horticulture, Bagalkot. The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design with two replications, comprising twenty diverse cherry tomato genotypes grown under a naturally ventilated polyhouse. Among them, TB-23-Sel-8 recorded highest plant height (248.70 cm), maximum number of primary branches per plant (9.20), earliest days to first flowering (16.60 days), 50 percent flowering (20.50 days) and minimum days to reach first harvest (61.08 days). Additionally, it also had a high lycopene content (6.26 mg/100 g). The genotype Pusa golden cherry tomato-2 demonstrated highest fruit yield per plant (2.90 kg), yield per plot (25.26 kg) as well as the highest total soluble solids content (8.88 0B). TOCVAR-6 had maximum number of flowers per cluster (34.30) and it had maximum number of locules per fruit (3.70). Pusa Cherry Tomato-1 exhibited maximum number of fruits per cluster (16.82) and fruits per plant (328.62). Highest average fruit wight (13.81 g), polar diameter (34.05 mm), pericarp thickness (2.71 mm) and longer shelf life (21.69 days) were observed in the genotype TB-14-Sel-3. TOCVAR-5 had maximum fruit firmness (2.53 kg/cm2) while, TOCVAR-2 recorded maximum equatorial diameter (29.47 mm) and less content of titratable acidity (0.24 %) and maximum ascorbic acid was found in Phule Jayashree (35.16 mg/100 g).