Vol. 8 No. 1
Crucial reproductive characters as screening indices for tomato [Solanum lycopersicum] under high temperature stress
Author(s): S. AKHTAR, S. H. ANSARY, A. K. DUTTA, C. KARAK, AND P. HAZRA
Abstract: The field experiment was carried out with 38 tomato genotypes grown under normal (October-February) and high temperature stress (February-May) seasons, the average day and night temperature were 27.6 & 15.1°C and 34.5 & 19.2°C, respectively. Several floral and fruit characters have been adversely affected due to chronic high temperature stress which clearly indicated specific physiological processes of flower development were especially sensitive to high temperature stress and limited fruit-set The mean number of truss plants-1 and flowers truss-1 under high temperature condition were drastically reduced and so was the number of fruitset truss-1. The genotype CLN-2413R resulted in maximum fruit-sets. Few genotypes like Raton, Patharkuchi, Parul did not set fruit at all under stress condition. Pollen viability and germination were drastically reduced under excessive heat of spring-summer season. Pollens of the genotype CLN 2413R showed maximum viability (59.23%) whereas CLN 2116B recorded highest pollen germination (82.40%). Pollens of as high as 22 genotypes did not germinate at all in vitro which made the major difference in fruit set in the genotypes. Fruit number and fruit weight were the important yield components, which were severely affected under high temperature stress and ultimately yield was markedly reduced. Under high temperature stress conditions, conspicuous correlations found were pollen viability and number of fruits plant-1, pollen germination and number of fruits plant-1, pollen germination and yield plant-1, fruit weight and yield plant-1. Considering different correlations and path coefficient analyses, the most crucial characters identified for high temperature fruit-set and fruit yield in tomato are flower trusses/plant, flowers/truss, fruit-set/truss, fruits/plant, average fruit weight, pollen viability and pollen germination.
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