GENETIC VARIABILITY, HERITABILITY AND GENETIC ADVANCE IN TOMATO (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) Satyendra Kumar, M. L. Meena* and D. C. Meena Department of Applied Plant Science (Horticulture), Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (A Central Uni- versity), Vidya-Vihar, Rae Bareli Road, Lucknow-226 025, *Corresponding Author’s E-mail :drmeena1977@gmail.com ABSTRACT : The present study on genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance in tomato germplasms for horticultural traits under Lucknow conditions was carried out at the Horticulture Research Farm of Department of Applied Plant Science, BBA University, Vidya Vihar, Rae Bareli Road, Lucknow (U.P.), India, during Rabi season of 2015-16. On the basis of overall findings, it was concluded that there is wide range of variation in tomato strains for all the characters studied. The strain PT-11 is highly significant for days to marketable picking, number of flowers/cluster, number of fruits/cluster, number of fruit/plant, fruit weight/ cluster and fruit yield, and the biochemical traits viz., TSS and ascorbic acid were found highest in PH-2 strain of tomato except acidity. Keywords : Tomato, genetic variability, heritability, variation, genetic advance. Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill., 2 2 n x = = 24) is one of the most important “protective foods” because of its special nutritive value. It is one of the most versatile vegetable with wide usage in Indian culinary tradition. It belongs to the family Solanaceae. It is world’s largest vegetable crop after potato. Tomato has become an important vegetable of the world in view of the increasing demand for fresh consumption as well as processing industry. Fresh fruits of tomato are in great demand round the year and throughout the country. Large quantities of tomato are used to produce ketchup, paste, puree, juice and soup. According to Aykroyd (2) tomato fruit contains 93.1 g water, protein 19 g, fat 0.1 g, carbohydrate 3.6 g,, mineral matter 0.6 g, calcium 20 mg, phosphorous 36 mg, iron 0.8 mg, carotene (as vitamin A) 320 I U, thiamine 2.27 mg, nicotinic acid 0.4 mg, riboflavin 0.01 mg and ascorbic acid 31 mg per 100 g of pulp of fruit. It also contains folic acid, vitamin K and inhibitors which are related to vitamin E. To increase the genetic yield potential, maximum utilization of the desirable characters for synthesizing of any ideal genotype is essential. Fruit yield is a quantitative character, which is influenced by a number of yield contributing characters. Selection for higher yield, the complex interrelationship of the yield contributing characters usually shows a complex chain of interacting relationship. Fruit yield of tomato depends upon the extent and nature of genetic variability present in the population. Genetic variability is the material from which superior genotypes can be evolved after selection. Higher the amount of variability in the population, greater is the scope for its improvement by selection. Knowledge of association of fruit yield with its contributing traits helps in breeding programmes. Wide range of variability provides better scope of selecting desirable genotypes. Effective selection depends upon existence of genetic variability in the population. The approaches to make significant improvement in tomato production require information regarding nature and magnitude of genetic variation in quantitative traits and their interrelationships in the available germplasm, which are important pre- requisites for a systematic breeding programme. Several workers viz., Manna and Paul (8), Mohamed et al. (9), Dar and Sharma (4), Saeed (16), Mohanty (10) and Mohanty (11) have emphasized the utility of the estimates of genetic components such as coefficient of variation, heritability and expected genetic advance in the prediction of response quantitative traits to selection. Thus, the biometrical information gathered on genetic architecture of attributes related to fruit yield and productivity would be great utility in planning of an efficient breeding programme for the improvement of tomato crop in order to develop promising genotypes/ cultivars. The breeding strategy involves assembling or generating variable germplasm with different source of resistance and selection of superior genotype for using hybridization. Thus, the present study was conceived with objective to examine the cultivars and lines of diverse origin were evaluated for yield and quality HortFlora Research Spectrum www.hortflorajournal.com Vol. 6, Issue 3; 168-172 (September 2017) ISSN: 2250-2823 Article’s History: Received : 16-07-2017 Accepted : 19-08-2017 NAAS Rating : 3.78