STUDIES ON EVALUATION OF TOMATO (Solanum lycopersicon L.) HYBRIDS FOR FRUIT YIELD AND OTHER TRAITS IN CHHATTISGARH, INDIA

The present study which consist 18 hybrids for fruit yield and other yield contributing traits. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with two replications during kharif season of 2017-18 at Sattva Seeds Pvt. Ltd., Raipur, Chhattisgarh. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed significant differences among the hybrids for all the traits except days to initiation of flowering, days to first harvest, days to last harvest and fruit yield per plant (kg). Total fruit yield per plot differed significantly among hybrids which may attributed to significantly higher number of fruits per plant and average fruit weight (g). The highest total fruit yield per plot (149.4 kg) and fruit yield per plant (5.1 kg) were recorded in hybrid TROPICAL LEADER with respect to maximum average fruit weight was recorded in Abhijay (85.6 g). Highest number of fruits per plant was observed in TM 78 (75.6) which was significantly higher than that in all the other hybrids tested in present investigation. The hybrid Abhiraj & TD-159 were the earliest to exhibit initiation of flowering (27.0 DAT) and minimum number of days to first harvesting were observed in SAMPURNA (65.0 DAT). The less number of days to first flowering and harvesting indicated earliness of the hybrid. From an overall view of results, it can be inferred that the hybrids TROPICAL LEADER, TD-159 and Abhiraj were high yielding and suitable for fresh marketing in Chhattisgarh, India.