Genetic correlation among yield characters of tomato plants

Abstract This study investigates genetic correlation among yield-related traits in eight tomato genotypes to establish effective selection criteria for breeding programs. Traits assessed included days to flowering, days to harvest, plant height, plant stem diameter, fruit count per plant, fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit pulp thickness, and weight per fruit. Genetic correlations were calculated using genetic covariance, revealing significant positive correlations among most traits. Notably, plant height exhibited the strongest correlation with fruit yield per plant (r = 0.85) and the fruit count per plant (r = 0.83). These findings highlight the importance of understanding genetic relationships to optimize selection strategies, thereby enhancing the efficiency of breeding programs aimed at developing superior tomato varieties with improved yield and quality. The results showed that selection can be done by index selection. Index selection with many characters at once can help in obtaining superior candidate varieties. The characters of days to harvest, plant height, plant stem diameter, fruit count per plant, fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit pulp thickness, and weight per fruit were observed to have a genetic association with the fruit yield per plant. The days to harvest, plant stem diameter, fruit diameter, and fruit count per plant can be the criteria selection for breeding tomato.