/ . Hort. Sci. 
Vol. 1 (1): 52-54, 2006 

Analysis of Genetic Divergence in Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) 

H. R. Sharma, Deepa Sharma and A. K. Thakur 
Dr. Yashwant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry 

Horticultural Research Station, Kandaghat 
District Solan (Himachal Pradesh) 173 215, India 

E-mail: hrs_kgt@yahoo.com 

ABSTRACT 
Non-hierarchical analysis conducted on 60 genotypes of tomato {Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) grouped the 

genotypes into 10 clusters. Maximum divergence within a cluster was exhibited by the cluster VIH (1.531), closely 
followed by cluster III (1.528) and cluster V (1.460), whereas, cluster VIII and cluster II were the most divergent 
from each other followed by cluster VII and cluster VIII. Promising genotypes selected were FT-5, LBR-10-2, THS-
1-1, THS-2-2, T-99-1-2 and T-99-2-3 for yield per plant, fruit size index, pericarp thickness and plant height, whereas, 
W 55, Campbell and EC-123018 were found to be the best for average fruit weight. However, genotypes EC-170785 
and Red cherry may be used to improve the number of fruits per plant and earliness. 

Key words: Cluster analysis, tomato, genetic divergence, Lycopersicon esculentum 

INTRODUCTION 

Tomato {Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) is an 
important vegetable crop grown worldwide. The crop has 
been studied extensively and a marked improvement has 
been achieved with respect to yield and other useful traits. 
Since, the success of crop improvement programme is based 
solely on diversity available in the breeding material. In 
the present studies, Non-Hierarchical Euclidean clustering 
approach was used to assess diversity and to select elite 
and divergent parents for use in further crop improvement 
programmes. 

MATERIAL AND METHODS 

The experimental material comprised of 60 
genotypes of tomato collected from various sources in India. 
The experiment was laid out during Kharif 2005 at Dr. Y.S. 
Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, 
Horticultural Research Station, Kandaghat, Solan, Himachal 
Pradesh, situated at an altitude of 1270m above mean sea 
level, lying between latitude 30° 52' North and longitude 
IT 11' East. The climate here ranges from sub-tropical to 
sub-temperate. Sixteen plants of each genotype were 
transplanted at the recommended spacing of 60cm x 45cm. 
Standard cultural practices were followed as to raise the 
tomato crop as per recommendations of the package of 
practices developed by the University (Anon. 2005). 

Observations on plant height, days to first harvest, 
fruit size index, average fruit weight, number of fruits per 

plant and yield per plant were recorded on 10 randomly 
selected competitive plants from each plot. Mean values of 
all the traits were subjected to statistical analysis. Genetic 
divergence analysis was performed by using non-
hierarchical Euclidean cluster analysis (Spark, 1973). 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 

Cluster analysis of data on yield and traits grouped 
the 60 genotypes into ten clusters. Composition of the 
clusters is given in Table 1. Maximum number of genotypes 
figured in cluster IX followed by cluster III, cluster V and 
cluster VII (8 genotypes in each), cluster X (7 genotypes), 
cluster I and cluster VI (6 genotypes), cluster II (3 
genotypes) and cluster IV and cluster VIII (2 genotypes 
each). 

Maximum intra-cluster distance (Table 2) was 
exhibited by cluster VIII (1.531) closely followed by cluster 
III (1.528) and cluster V (1.460). Higher values of intra-
cluster distance indicate greater diversity among members 
of the cluster. The least intra-cluster distance observed in 
cluster X (0.983) indicated limited genetic divergence. The 
inter - cluster distance among different clusters shows that 
cluster VIII and cluster II are most divergent having 
maximum (7.384) inter cluster distance followed by cluster 
Vn and cluster VIH (6.361). Similar findings have also been 
reported earlier by Rai et al (1998), Dharmatti et al (2001), 
Mohanty and Prusti (2001), Sharma and Verma (2001) and 
Parthasarathy and Aswath (2002). The genotypes selected 

mailto:hrs_kgt@yahoo.com


Sharma et al 

from divergent clusters may, thus, provide genetically 
divergent parents for hybridization programmes and may 
produce heterotic F,s or transgressive segregants in later 
generations. 

Cluster means for yield and horticultural traits in 
tomato (Table 3) revealed that maximum number of fruits 
per plant (75.28) were obtained in cluster VIII, whereas 
genotypes of cluster VI gave the highest yield per plant 

Table 1. Composition of clusters in tomato 

(2.38 Kg), fruit size index (34.58 cm^), pericarp thickness 
(8.03 mm) and plant height (2(X).44 cm). Cluster VII showed 
the minimum number of days (46 days) to achieve 
marketable maturity. The genotypes may, thus, be selected 
from these clusters to improve a particular trait. 

Genotypes FT-5, LBR-10-2, THS-1-1, THS-2-2, T-
99-1 -2 and T-99-2-3 were found to be promising with respect 
to yield per plant; fruit size index, pericarp thickness and 

Cluster Number of genotypes Genotype 
I 
II 
III 
IV 
V 
VI 
VII 
VIII 
IX 
X 

6 
3 
8 
2 
8 
6 
8 
2 
10 
7 

EC 122911, EC 177862, LE 580, LE 590, LE 598, DVRT-2 
W 55, Compbell, EC 123018 
Rutger, IIHR-1278, EC 122171, EC 368860, EC 126255, EC 353830, EC 143540, Ageta 
IIHR-1200, lIHR-1260 
Solan Gola, Lalmani, Sioux, Sel 147, Pusa Ruby, EC 130031, EC 126762, HS 88 
FT-5, LBR-10-2, THS-1-1, THS-2-2, T 99-1-2, T 99-2-3 
Roma, Russel, Chiku, LE 581, LE 258, LE 259, LE 260, LE 600 
EC 170785, Red Cherry 
Beefsteak, Marglobe, Solan Surkha, Sel 231, A 2, AI-11, LBR-12-1, LBR_14-1, LBR-8-2, UC 82 B 
Marathan, IIHR-I246, EC 546280, EC 141830, EC 143590, JTL, Hawaii 7998 

Table 2. Intra - and inter - cluster distance in tomato 

Cluster I II III IV VI VII VIII IX 
I 
II 
III 
IV 
V 
VI 
VII 
VIII 
IX 
X 

1.305 
3.171 
2.460 
3.006 
2.681 
3.071 
2.902 
4.804 
1.878 
2.650 

0.994 
3.825 
2.893 
3.522 
4.174 
4.528 
7.384 
2.984 
3.805 

1.528 
3.870 
2.064 
4.679 
3.421 
4.452 
2.500 
2.536 

1.031 
4.583 
4.588 
5.337 
6.196 
4.006 
3.330 

1.460 
3.506 
3.490 
5.249 
1.494 
2.412 

1.212 
4.631 
6.260 
2.655 
3.225 

0.902 
6.361 
2.665 
4.831 

1.531 
5.715 
4.450 

1.124 
2.619 0.983 

Table 3. Cluster means for various characters in tomato 

Cluster Number of fruits 
per plant 

Yield per plant 
(Kg) 

Average fruit 
weight (g) 

Fruit size index 
(cm-) 

Pericarp thickness 
(mm) 

Plant height 
(cm) 

Days taken to 
first harvest 

I 
II 
III 
IV 
V 
VI 
VII 
VIII 
IX 
X 

34.09 
16.02 
26.09 
24.28 
26.11 
36.63 
26.77 
75.28 
25.62 
31.84 

2.11 
1.76 
1.16 
2.31 
1.22 
2.38 
1.59 
1.28 
1.60 
1.62 

62.98 
110.86 
48.42 
95.12 
49.63 
64.65 
59.79 
17.98 
63.35 
51.48 

23.20 
29.59 
20.32 
12.87 
33.25 
34.58 
27.99 
13.46 
30.92 
22.32 

4.84 
3.08 
2.96 
2.00 
4.23 
8.03 
7.97 
1.91 
6.36 
3.54 

152.04 
167.67 
144.82 
170.67 
165.34 
200.44 
66.91 
163.50 
154.33 
204.17 

58.17 
66.67 
60.38 
75.50 
67.75 
81.67 
46.00 
69.00 
66.00 
83.71 

Table 4. Promising genotypes for various traits 

Character Promising genotypes identified 
Number of fruits per plant 
Yield per plant (Kg) 
Average fruit weight (g) 
Fruit size index (cm-) 
Pericarp thickness (mm) 
Plant height (cm) 
Days taken to first harvest 

EC 170785, Red Cherry 
FT-5, LBR-10-2, THS-1-1, THS-2-2, T 99-1-2, T 99-2-3 
W 55, Compbell, EC 123018 
FT-5, LBR-10-2, THS-1-1, THS-2-2, T 99-1-2, T 99-2-3 
FT-5, LBR-10-2, THS-1-1, THS-2-2, T 99-1-2, T 99-2-3 
FT-5, LBR-10-2, THS-I-1, THS-2-2, T 99-1-2, T 99-2-3 
Roma, Russel, Chiku, LE 581, LE 258, LE 259, LE 260, LE 600 

J. Hort. Sci. 
Vol. 1 (1): 52-54,2006 

53 



Genetic divergence in tomato 

plant height, whereas W 55, Campbell and EC-123018 were 
found to be the best for average fruit weight. However, 
genotypes EC-170785 and Red cherry may be used to 
improve the number of fruits per plant and earliness 
(Table 4). 

REFERENCES 

Anonymous,2005. Package of Practices for Vegetable 
Crops. Directorate of Extension Education, Dr. Y.S. 
Parmar, University of Horticulture and Forestry, 
Nauni, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, pp. 8-23 

Dharmatti, P. R., Madalgeri, B. B . , Mannikeri, I. M., Patil, 
R. v., Girish Patil and Patil, G. 2001. Genetic 
divergence studies in summer tomatoes. Kamataka 

J. Agric. ScL, U-A07-411 
Mohanty, B. K. and Prusti, A. M. 2001.Analysis of genetic 

distance in tomato. Res. Crops, 2:382-385 
Parthasarathy, V. A. and Aswath, C. 2002. Genetic diversity 

among tomato genotypes. Indian J. Hort., 59:162-
166 

Rai, N. , Rajput, Y. S. and Singh, A. K. 1998. Genetic 
divergence in tomato using a non - hierarchical 
clustering approach. Veg. Sci., 25:133-135 

Sharma, K. C. and Verma, S. 2001. Analysis of genetic 
divergence in tomato. Ann. Agric. Res., 22:71-73 

Spark, D. N. 1973. Euclidean cluster analysis. Algorithm 
AS 58. Appl. Stat., 22:126-130 

(MS Received 27 April, 2006 Revised 18 June, 2006) 

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Vol. 1 (1): 52-54, 2006 

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