Combining ability of parental forms, inheritance and manifestation of the trait of lycopene content in fruits of F1 tomato hybrids

The main direction of our research is the improvement of the quality indicators of tomato fruits, the assessment of the general and specific combining ability of five parental forms of tomato, and the establishment of the character of inheritance. Three medium-ripe lines (№492; №494; LK490) and two samples (Dark Green, T-3627) with mutant genes for increased lycopene content in fruits (hp-2dg, Bc) were selected for diallel crossing (5х5). The conducted genetic analysis showed that the content of lycopene in tomato fruits is controlled by an additive-dominant genetic system. The main role in the genetic control of traits is played by the additive effects of genes, which allows selection by phenotype, starting from the second hybrid generation. Inheritance of lycopene content in tomato fruits occurs by the type of incomplete dominance. The direction of dominance changes from the dominance of genes that reduce the manifestation of the trait to its absence. A high (reliable positive assessment of the effects) of the general combining ability (GCA) according to the content of lycopene in tomato fruits over the three years of research had the Dark Green sample (0.48-0.54), the LK 490 line (0.26-1.68), sample T-3627 (0.38-1.09) − for two years.