EVALUATION OF CHERRY TOMATO (SOLANUM LYCOPERSICUM L. VAR. CERASIFORME) GENOTYPES FOR GROWTH AND YIELD ATTRIBUTES

The research was conducted with 12 cherry tomato genotypes at Regional Research Station, Bangladesh Institute of Research and Training on Applied Nutrition (BIRTAN), Noakhali, Bangladesh during the year 2020-21 to select suitable cherry type tomato for processing purposes. Among the genotypes, highest number of fruits per cluster was observed in CT-11 (31.67), higher average fruit weight (69.53g) and the number of locules (5.67) per fruit was recorded in CT-14 but the highest fruit yielder was CT-15 (11.30 kg). Higher heritability, genetic advance, genotypic coefficient of variation for number of fruits and clusters per plant, fruits per cluster, fruit yield per plant were controlled by additive gene action, which indicates the scope for improvement of this characters. A significant positive correlation coefficient was observed with plant height, the number of clusters per pant, fruits per plant and pericarp thickness. Yield showed a significant linear regression coefficient with number of clusters per plant, fruits per cluster, fruits per plant, fruit length and fruit diameter. Principal component and cluster analyses revealed that four principal components accounted for 90.60% of the morphological variability of the genotypes evaluated. Among the genotypes, CT-5 produced the highest number of fruits per plant and CT-15 produced the highest fruit yield and can be selected for cultivation under Bangladesh conditions.