~ 1011 ~ Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2020; 9(3): 1011-1014 E-ISSN: 2278-4136 P-ISSN: 2349-8234 www.phytojournal.com JPP 2020; 9(3): 1011-1014 Received: 01-03-2020 Accepted: 05-04-2020 Khushbu Kumari Department of Horticulture Vegetable & Floriculture, Bihar Agricultural College, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India Shirin Akhtar Department of Horticulture Vegetable & Floriculture, Bihar Agricultural College, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India Suman Kumari Department of Horticulture Vegetable & Floriculture, Bihar Agricultural College, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India Manish Kumar Department of Horticulture Vegetable & Floriculture, Bihar Agricultural College, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India Komal Kumari Department of Horticulture Vegetable & Floriculture, Bihar Agricultural College, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India Neha Kumari Singh Department of Horticulture Vegetable & Floriculture, Bihar Agricultural College, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India Aditya Ranjan Department of Horticulture Vegetable & Floriculture, Bihar Agricultural College, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India Corresponding Author: Khushbu Kumari Department of Horticulture Vegetable & Floriculture, Bihar Agricultural College, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India Genetic variability and heritability studies in diverse tomato genotypes Khushbu Kumari, Shirin Akhtar, Suman Kumari, Manish Kumar, Komal Kumari, Neha Kumari Singh and Aditya Ranjan Abstract Tomato is one of the most important solanaceous vegetable that can be grown throughout the year, although its main cultivation season is autumn-winter. The present experiment was conducted utilizing twenty-five diverse genotypes of tomato in the autumn-winter season of 2018-19 for assessing the variability, heritability and genetic advance for different growth, reproductive, fruit morphological, yield and important quality attributes. High degree of variability was observed for all the traits that showed the traits were suitable for selection for further breeding purposes. GCV was higher than PCV for all the characters under study. High PCV, GCV and heritability coupled with high genetic gain was observed for plant height, number of fruits per truss, polar diameter, equatorial diameter, pericarp thickness, locule number, average fruit weight, fruit number per plant, yield per plant, TSS, lycopene content, β-carotene content and total yield. This indicated that additive gene action plays a major role in governing these traits and these traits can be improved by simple selection in earlier generations. Keywords: GCV, PCV, variability, heritability, genetic advance Introduction Tomato is one of the important solanaceous vegetable that can be grown round the year but its main season is autumn-winter. It is grown throughout the world due to its wider adaptability, high yielding potential, variety of uses in fresh as well as processed food industries and its health benefits. It is a pre-dominantly self-pollinated crop with chromosome number 2n = 2x = 24. The red colour of tomato is due to presence of lycopene pigment which is the world’s most powerful natural antioxidant (Jones, 2000) [12] . Ripe tomatoes are rich sources of nutritive quality compounds, especially carotenoids such as lycopene, β-carotene (provitamin A) and ascorbic acid besides minerals like calcium, phosphorus and iron (Beecher, 1998) [4] . Tomato and its products, when consumed regularly, help in reduction of carcinogenesis, particularly prostate and mouth cancer. The antioxidants in tomato viz., carotenoids, particularly lycopene, beta-carotene, ascorbic acid, vitamin E, phenolic compounds and flavonoids are the reason for the health benefits (Frusciante, 2007) [9] . The crop is cultivated in an area of 0.809 million hectares in the country, producing 19.697 million metric tonnes yield with an average national productivity of 24.36 metric tonnes per hectare (Anonymous, 2017) [9] . The selection of genotype for breeding programme is based on variability present. So for estimating the variability present in the genotypes the phenotypic coefficient of variance, genotypic coefficient of variance, heritability, genetic advance and genetic advance as percent of mean has to be calculated. Material and Methods The present investigation was carried out at the Vegetable Research Farm of Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur located at 25º 15’ 40” N latitude and 80º 2’ 42” E longitude and altitude of 46m above mean sea level of India. Twenty five different lines of tomato were used to study variability among them. Randomized block design with three replications was laid out to carry the experiment maintaining a spacing of 50cm x 50cm and in each plot sixteen plants were transplanted. Twenty five days old seedlings were transplanted in each plot. Data on eighteen agronomic and quality traits were recorded, viz., plant height (cm), number of primary branches, days to 1st flowering (DAT), days to 50% flowering (DAT), days to 1st fruit harvest (DAT), polar diameter (cm), equatorial diameter (cm), pericarp thickness (mm), locule number, flowers number per truss, number of fruits per truss, average fruit weight (g), fruit number per plant, yield per plant (g), total yield (q/ha), total soluble solids (TSS) (ºBrix), lycopene content (mg/100g FW), β-carotene content (mg/100g FW). Analysis of variance for randomised block design was carried out as suggested by Fisher