HETEROSIS AND COMBINING ABILITY STUDIES FOR FRUIT YIELD, COMPONENTS AND QUALITY TRAITS IN TOMATO (SOLANUM LYCOPERSICUM L.) UNDER MID HILL CONDITIONS OF HIMACHAL PRADESH INDIA

The present investigation was carried out at Vegetable Research Farm, CSK HPKV Palampur, Himachal Pradesh to assess the nature and magnitude of gene action on the basis of combining ability and heterosis in tomato.In order to identify the potential parents and cross-combinations, the 8 lines, 2 testers and 16 cross combinations along with standard check (Avtar) were evaluated in Randomized Complete Block Design replicated thrice during kharif, 2021.Analysis revealed the preponderance of non-additive gene effects for most of the traits viz., days to 50 per cent flowering, days to first harvest, duration of fruit harvest, plant height, fruit length, fruit width, fruit shape index, pericarp thickness, locules/fruit, total fruits/plant, marketable fruits/plant, total yield/plant, TSS, ascorbic acid content, titrable acidity, pH, carotenoid content, dry matter content, moisture content and TSS-AR ratio while additive gene effects for marketable yield per plant.Lines DPT 4 and DPT 1 were found to be good general combiners for most of the traits.The cross-combinations DPT 112-1, DPT 1 Palam Pride, DPT 412-1 and 2015/TOINVAR-412-1 exhibited high heterosis and SCA for majority of traits, therefore were rated as potential crosses.As a result, it would be helpful to exploit tomato hybrids, particularly those that showed high SCA in the current study for the development of hybrids.