Exploring Combining Ability to Generate Peasant Farmers Preferred Hybrid Tomato Varieties and Hints on Seed Multiplication

Hybrid tomato production is a rare adventure in many developing countries, also while many believe that more than enough quantity of tomato is annually produced, little or no cognisance is taken that farmers are compelled to grow only the readily available materials. For cultural and economic returns, peasant farmers prefer the indeterminate tomatoes. This experiment was carried out at Abubakar Tafawa Belewa University Farm (ATBU), Bauchi, in the northern Guinea savannah. In the experiment, different crosses using five varieties of tomato were made. Seeds of the five tomato parents and F1 plants of the six crosses making eleven genotypes were sown in the field in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with two replications. The following were observed (i) heterosis/dominance expressed in the crosses that involved determinate x indeterminate in favour of fruit plant-1 and of seed fruit-1 (ii) cytoplasmic gene expression. Therefore more elaborate and extensive trials are required to ensure that tomato seed security receives needed attention.