Abstract

                                Studies on improvement of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) was taken up at Department of Horticulture, Agricultural College and Research In- stitute, Madurai. Crosses were made between six parents viz., LE 3, LE 1050, LE 1052, LE 1059, LE 1029 and LE 1036. The five crosses in F1, F2 and their back crossed generations (BCP 1 and BCP 2) were evaluated for their association of characters with yield. Most of the important economic characters like number of fruiting clusters per plant showed a positive significant relationship with yield in the crosses B and D in F1 and F2 generations indicating the possibility of isolation of high yielding lines through selection. Number of fruits per plant showed positive association with yield in the crosses A, C, D and E of F1 and F2 generations, whereas in the cross E of BCP 1 and BCP 2 generations negative relationship was noticed for number of fruits per plant with yield, indicating the dependability of F2 generation for further selection.

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