Description

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is the second most important vegetable crops of Peru - Ecuador origin after potato. It belongs to family Solanaceae. Because of its wider adaptability and versatility, tomato is grown throughout the world either in outdoors or indoors. It is universally treated as "productive" as well as "protective food" having medicinal value, too. In many countries it is considered as "poor man's orange" because of its attractive appearance and nutritive value. It is a typical day neutral plant and self pollinated crop, but certain percentage of out-crossing also occurs. It is a warm season crop reasonably resistant to heat, drought and grows under wide range of soil and climatic conditions. The heterosis and combining ability analysis helps in diagnosing or identifying additive or non-additive gene action would in turn lead a breeder to select desirable parents or cross combinations that would be exploited for crop improvement.