Genetic Estimates of Water Stress in Tomato ( Lycopersicum esculentum )

摘要

Availability of moisture is a major environmental constraint militating against crop yield world-wide especially in Semi-Arid Tropics. SAMTOM 3 was used to obtain genetic information, assess four drought criteria and their associations. Simulated drought condition was applied (3 and 14 day watering interval). The experiment was Randomized Complete Block Design, replicated 4 times. Differential trait responses were obtained, number of flower abortion, number of fruit/plant, number of flower buds/plant and fruit weight were severely affected by simulated water stress. The calculated quantitative drought tolerance indices; Mean Productivity (MP), Geometric Mean Productivity (GMP) Tolerance Index (TI) and Percent Injury (%I) are effective in improving yield under drought condition. However, correlation analysis indicated that the most suitable drought tolerance criteria are TI and %I. Variance components and heritability estimates were calculated for all the traits studied.