International Journal of Horticulture 2015, Vol.5, No.14, 1
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al., 2014) obtained tomato with plant height in the
range of 36.80 to 129.0 cm.
1.5 Total fruit yield (kg per plant)
High yield is the ultimate aim of every plant breeder.
Analysis of data for yield per plant revealed that it
ranged from 2.07 to 3.20 kg per plant with an overall
mean of 2.44 kg per plant. The hybrid HS-18 (3.19,
3.30 and 3.11 kg per plant) recorded highest yield
during all the three years, respectively. High yield in
HS-18 might be due to higher number of fruits in a
cluster as well as higher number of clusters on a single
plant. However, it was also observed that less fruit
weight than other hybrids but it does not affect the
overall yield of HS-18. Ganesan (2001) revealed
that tomato hybrid ‘Pusa Ruby’ (2.20 kg/plant)
produced the maximum fruit yield. Singh and
Asrey (2005) reported that the production of
‘Naveen’ hybrid of tomato was higher under
protected conditions. Fontes et al.
(1997) reported
that the average yield of marketable fruits in the
plastic tunnel was 3.15 kg per plant which were
141% higher than in field grown plants. Jaha and
Krishi (2001) reported 4.03 kg fresh fruit yield
per plant in cultivar ‘Naveen’ while, Mishra and
Lal (1998) reported that variety ‘Pusa Ruby’
gave the maximum fruit yield per plant (2.7 kg)
among the 39 tomato cultivars. Other researchers
(Hussain et al., 2001; Ahmad et al., 2007; Žnidarčič et
al., 2003; Shah et al., 2011; Naz et al., 2011;
Regassa et al., 2012; Kratky, 1988; Bradley and
Marulanda, 2000; Zekki et al.,
1996; Jiregna, 2013;
Muhammmad et al., 2013) reported that fruit yield
per plant lay between 0.83 to 3.8 kg per plant.
1.6 Number of locules per fruit
The observations recorded on these four hybrids
revealed that number of locules per fruit were
non-significant during 2008-09 to 2010-11. In nutshell
tomato genotypes showed desirable character of
minimum number of locules under protected
conditions (Singh, 2011). In present study it was
observed that the hybrids TAI-687 showed minimum
number of locules per fruit (2.17) and G-600 showed
the maximum number of locules per fruit (3.00) over
all the three years. Variation in the number of locules
per fruit was also reported by Sharma et al. (2009);
Dar et al. (2012), who observed that the range of
number of locules per fruit was 2.0 to 6.0.
1.7 Pericarp thickness (mm)
Pericarp thickness is another important trait of quality.
There was a significant difference in the pericarp
thickness of fruit in different tomato hybrids
grown under polyhouse. Maximum pericarp thickness
was recorded in TAI-687 (0.80 mm) followed by
HS-18 (0.74 mm), Dev (0.69 mm) and G-600 (0.63
mm). It was observed that the genotype having thicker
pericarp has longer shelf life, higher fruit firmness and
high transportation ability. These findings were in
close conformity with Durvesh and Singh (2006), who
reported that maximum percarp thickness was in
‘Sonali’ (9.0 mm) and the minimum in ‘DTH-6’ (3.7
mm); Dar et al. (2012) reported the maximum value in
‘EC-521067’ (5.27 mm) and minimum was recorded
in genotype ‘CGNT-5’ (2.58 mm).
1.8 Total soluble solid (
o
Brix)
A total soluble solid is very important trait of quality
and degree of sweetness is determined by TSS. There
were non-significant differences for total soluble
solids in 2008-09 and 2010-11 whereas in 2009-10,
HS-18 (5.00
o
Brix) was significantly superior to other
hybrids. However, according to mean performance of
three years, HS-18 (4.72
o
Brix) recorded maximum
TSS followed by Dev and TAI-687 (3.99
o
Brix).
Similar results were also observed by Zhu-wei
Min et al. (2003) that tomato cultivar ‘Puhong
909’ had maximum TSS content (4.5%) under the
multispan greenhouse. Singh (2011) also reported that
maximum TSS was present in ‘Naveen’ (5.60) under
naturally ventilated polyhouse. The value of total
soluble solids content varied from 4.79% to
6.02% (Hossain et al., 2010). Radhakrishnaih et al.
(1987); Nainwal et al. (1992); Ereifej et al. (1997);
Durvesh and Singh (2006); Dar et al. (2012);
Gupta et al. (2011) reported that quality attributes
like total soluble solids of the fruit ranged from
3.67 to 6.0
o
Brix.
1.9 Dry matter content (%)
In case of dry matter, non-significant differences were
recorded but HS-18 has maximum dry matter content
(5.44%) followed by TAI-687 (5.31%), Dev and
G-600 (4.81%). Davis and Hobson (1981) also found
the less variation in dry matter content among the
different variety. Hossain et al. (2010) reported
the range of dry matter 10.60% to 17.54%.
