Variability and correlation among agronomic and phytochemical traits of tomato inbred lines

The phytochemical and agronomical features of 15 tomato inbred lines were studied for two successive years under local environmental conditions of Oman. The objectives of this experiment were to; (1) determine the correlation between the variables to explain variation among tomato inbred lines, (2) estimate the relationship and divergence among tomato inbred lines using principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis. The experiments were conducted in randomized complete block design with three replications in Tawoos Agricultural farm in Barka in 2013-2014. Data collected were 1) Agronomical data: fruit yield, marketable fruit yield, single fruit weight, fruit number and 2) Phytochemical data: PH, TSS, TA and Color. In both years 2013 and 2014, the first three components of PCA showed 76.3 and 77.5% respectively, of the total variation among traits. Agronomical data contributed more in total variation than phytochemical data among different tomato inbred lines. The resulting dendrogram from cluster analysis using ward method revealed 3 groups. The first and second groups show close relationship among inbred lines while the third group with two lines (3022E and GS 12) showed no similarity with other two groups. In 2014, 3125F-19 with the highest fruit size (140 g) grouped alone . This method of grouping inbred lines was completely consistent with the results of principal component analysis. In general, these inbred li nes performed well and produced good fruit yield.