International Journal of Agriculture, Environment and Bioresearch
Vol. 2, No. 02; 2017
ISSN: 2456-8643
CORRELATION STUDIES OF DIFFERENT GROWTH, QUALITY AND
YIELD ATTRIBUTING PARAMETERS OF TOMATO (Solanum
lycopersicum L.)
Shubhashree Priyadarshinee Das1*, Durga Prasad Moharana2, Tarique Aslam1, Niharika J. Nayak1, A.R.
Mandal1
1. Department of Vegetable Crops, BCKV, Mohanpur
2. Department of Horticulture, IAS, BHU, Varanasi
ABSTRACT
The present investigation was carried out at Horticultural Research Station, Mondouri, Faculty of
Horticulture, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya during rabi season of 2013-14 and 2014-
15.Correlation study showed that number of flower clusters per plant, number of flowers per
cluster, number of fruits per cluster, number of fruits per plant had positive significant
correlation with fruit yield per plant and number of flower clusters per plant, number of fruits per
cluster, number of flowers per cluster, number of fruits per plant, fruit yield, polar diameter,
equatorial diameter, TSS, ascorbic acid and germination percentage of seed had positive
significant correlation with seed yield per plant.
Keywords: Tomato, Correlation, yield, quality
Introduction
Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L., 2n=2x=24)is one of the most important edible and
nutritious vegetable of the world. It belongs to the family Solanaceae and native of Peru Ecuador
region [1]. It is also one of the most popular and widely grown crops of commercial and dietary
significance in the world. Firmly ripe tomato fruits are consumed fresh as salad, after cooking
and also utilized in the preparation of value added products, such as juice, puree, paste, powder,
ketchup, sauce, soup and whole canned fruits. Unripe green fruits are used for the preparation of
pickles and chutney. Tomato tops in the list of processed vegetables and occupies a distinct place
in the realm of vegetables because of its large-scale utilization and high nutritive value as it
contains a good amount of vitamin A and C and minerals, therefore, in many countries, it is
considered as poor man’s orange [2], [3] and [4]. Due to its high consumption rate in developed
and developing countries, it is often referred to as a luxury crop. In England, it is popularly
known as Love Apple and is grown in all home gardens and by a large number of market and
truck growers. Popularity of tomato has increased rapidly from the middle of nineteenth century
www.ijaeb.org Page 217
International Journal of Agriculture, Environment and Bioresearch
Vol. 2, No. 02; 2017
ISSN: 2456-8643
to the present time. As a cash crop, it has great demand in the international market [5].Hence,
now, it has become a good source of income to small and marginal farmers. The scope of
improvement in tomato is mainly based on the variety having desirable characters. Knowledge in
respect of the nature and magnitude of associations of yield with various component characters is
a prerequisite to bring improvement in the desired direction.
Materials and method
The present investigation was carried out at Horticultural Research Station, Mondouri, Faculty of
Horticulture, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya during rabi season of 2013-14 and 2014-
15.The experiment consisted of four tomato varieties namely Pusa 120 (V1), Pant T 3 (V2), Arka
Vikash (V3) and Patharkuchi (V4) and five flower flushes (F1, F2, F3, F4 and F5) of each
variety. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design with three replications.
Different growth parameters like plant height (cm), number of primary branches; yield
attributing parameters likedays to first flowering, days to first fruit harvest, number of flower
clusters/plant, number of flowers/cluster, number of fruits/cluster, % of fruit set/cluster, number
of fruits per plant, fruit weight (g), pericarp thickness (cm), polar diameter (cm), equatorial
diameter (cm), number of locules/fruit, fruit yield (kg/plant), and quality parameters like TSS
content (0 Brix), sugar content (%), ascorbic acid content (mg/100g), lycopene content
(mg/100g) and β-carotene content (mg/100g) were studied. Analysis of data was done by using
appropriate statistical methods over pooled data of both the years.The pooling of data for all the
characters done for the both years by using the standard method suggested by Cochran and Cox
[6]. Data obtained for different parameters were subjected to statistical analysis following the
Randomized Block Design as suggested by Panse and Sukhatme [7] and Gomez and Gomez [8].
Correlation study of different parameters was done by the method of Pearson.
Result and Discussion
Plant height showed positive significant correlation with fruit weight (0.597), pericarp
thickness (0.426), equatorial diameter (0.285), number of locules per fruit (0.307), test weight
(0.603) and germination percentage of seeds and negative significant correlation with beta
carotene content and number of seeds per fruit. Primary branches per plant showed positive
significant correlation with pericarp thickness of fruit (0.316), equatorial diameter (0.315),
whereas it showed negative significant correlation with days to first flower and days to first fruit
harvest.
Days to first flower showed positive significant correlation with days to first harvest
while significant correlation with number of flower clusters per plant, number of flowers per
cluster, number of fruits per cluster, number of fruits per plant, fruit yield per plant, fruit weight,
pericarp thickness, polar diameter, equatorial diameter, vitamin C, lycopene content, beta
www.ijaeb.org Page 218
International Journal of Agriculture, Environment and Bioresearch
Vol. 2, No. 02; 2017
ISSN: 2456-8643
carotene content, germination % and seed yield per plant. Number of flower clusters per plant
showed positive significant correlation with number of flowers per cluster, number of fruits per
cluster, number of fruits per plant, fruit yield, polar diameter, equatorial diameter, vitamin C,
beta carotene content and seed yield and negative significant correlation with days to first fruit
harvest. Number of flowers per cluster showed positive significant correlation with number of
flower clusters per plant whereas negative significant correlation with days to first flower.
Number of fruits/cluster showed positive significant correlation with number of flower
clusters/plant and number of flowers/cluster while negative significant correlation with days to
first flowering. Percentage of fruit set per cluster showed positive significant correlation with
number of fruits/cluster while negative significant correlation with number of flowers/cluster.
Days to first fruit harvest showed positive significant correlation with days to first flowering and
negative significant correlation with number of primary branches, number of flower
clusters/plant, number of flowers/cluster and number of fruits/cluster.
Number of fruits per plant showed positive significant correlation with number of flower
clusters per plant (0.950**), number of flowers per cluster (0.590**), number of fruits per cluster
(0.733**) and negative significant correlation with days to first flower (-0.451**) and days to
first fruit harvest (-0.566**).Fruit weight showed positive significant correlation with plant
height, number of flowers per cluster, fruit yield while negative significant correlation with days
to first flower and days to first fruit harvest. Polar diameter showed positive significant
correlation with number of flower clusters/plant, number of flowers/ cluster, number of
fruits/cluster, number of fruits/plant, fruit yield and negative significant correlation with days to
first flower and days to first fruit harvest. Equatorial diameter showed positive significant
correlation with plant height, number of primary branches, number of flower clusters per plant,
number of flowers per cluster, number of fruits per plant, fruit yield, fruit weight, pericarp
thickness whereas negative significant correlation with days to first flower and days to first fruit
harvest. This result was earlier corroborated by Ravindra et al. [9].
Fruit yield showed positive significant correlation with number of flower clusters per
plant (0.935**), number of flowers per cluster (0.580**), number of fruits per cluster (0.717**),
number of fruits per plant (0.977**) whereas showing negative significant correlation with days
to first flower (-0.473**), days to first fruit harvest (-0.565**). The results were confirmed with
the findings of Shiferaw et al. [10], Ramanaet al [11], Prashanth et al. [12], Meseret et al. [13],
Dharminder et al. [14] and Mahapatra et al. [15]. Direct selection on the basis of number of fruits
per plant and number of fruits per cluster was reliable for yield improvement. Pericarp thickness
showed positive significant correlation with plant height, number of primary branches, fruit
weight while negative significant correlation with days to first flower and days to first fruit
harvest. Number of locules/fruit showed positive significant correlation with plant height,
www.ijaeb.org Page 219
International Journal of Agriculture, Environment and Bioresearch
Vol. 2, No. 02; 2017
ISSN: 2456-8643
pericarp thickness and negative significant correlation with polar diameter. The result was
supported by the findings of Ravindra et al. [9].
Positive significant correlation with pericarp thickness, number of locules/fruit, TSS
content, sugar content and negative significant correlation with polar diameter, lycopene content,
β-carotene content was shown by number of seeds per fruit, whereas test weight showed positive
significant correlation with plant height, days to first fruit harvest, fruit weight, pericarp
thickness, number of locules per fruit, TSS content and negative significant correlation with
polar diameter, lycopene content and β-carotene content. Seed yield per plant showed positive
significant correlation with number of flower clusters per plant (0.910**), number of fruits per
cluster (0.658**), number of flowers per cluster (0.556**), number of fruits per plant (0.937**),
fruit yield (0.878**), polar diameter (0.364**), equatorial diameter (0.344**), TSS (0.370**),
ascorbic acid (0.322*) and germination percentage of seed (0.297*). But it rendered negative
significant correlation with days to first flower (-0.435**) and days to first fruit harvest (-
0.542**). Germination % of seeds showed positive significant correlation with plant height,
number of flowers per cluster, number of fruits per cluster, fruit weight, fruit yield, pericarp
thickness, equatorial diameter, number of locules per fruit, TSS content, sugar content, beta
carotene content and number of seeds per fruit and negative significant correlation with days to
first flower and days to first fruit harvest.
TSS content of fruit showed positive significant correlation with number of flowers per cluster,
fruit weight, pericarp thickness and number of locules per fruit. Positive significant correlation
with number of flower clusters/plant, number of flowers/cluster, number of fruits/cluster, number
of fruits/plant, fruit yield/plant, polar diameter whereas negative significant correlation with
plant height, days to first flower, days to first fruit harvest, fruit weight, pericarp thickness and
number of locules/fruit had been shown by ascorbic acid content of fruit. Sugar content of fruit
showed positively significant correlation with pericarp thickness, equatorial diameter, number of
locules per fruit, TSS content while negative significant correlation with polar diameter and
ascorbic acid content. Lycopene content of fruit showed positive significant correlation with
number of flowers per cluster, number of fruits per cluster, number of fruits per plant, polar
diameter, ascorbic acid content and showed negative significant correlation with plant height,
days to first flower, days to first fruit harvest, pericarp thickness, number of locules per fruit,
TSS content, β-carotene content. This results were inconformity with the findings of YaDong et
al. [16].β carotene content of fruit showed positive significant correlation with number of flower
clusters per plant, number of flowers per cluster, number of fruits per cluster, number of fruits
per plant, fruit yield, polar diameter, ascorbic acid content, lycopene content while negative
significant correlation with plant height, days to first flower, days to first fruit harvest, number of
locules per fruit and sugar content.
www.ijaeb.org Page 220
International Journal of Agriculture, Environment and Bioresearch
Vol. 2, No. 02; 2017
ISSN: 2456-8643
Conclusion
Results showed that number of flower clusters per plant, number of flowers per cluster, number
of fruits per cluster, number of fruits per plant had positive significant correlation with fruit yield
per plant and number of flower clusters per plant, number of fruits per cluster, number of flowers
per cluster, number of fruits per plant, fruit yield, polar diameter, equatorial diameter, TSS,
ascorbic acid and germination percentage of seed had positive significant correlation with seed
yield per plant.
References
1. Rick CM (1969). Origin of cultivated tomato, current status of the problem. Abstract XI
International Botanical Congress. pp. 180.
2. Sainju MU, Dris R, Singh B (2003). Mineral nutrition of tomato. Food Agriculture and
Environment 1(2): 176-183.
3. Singh JK, Singh JP, Jain SK, Joshi A (2004). Correlation and path coefficient analysis in
tomato. Progressive Horticulture 36(1): 82-86.
4. Naika S, de Jeude JL, de Goffau M, Hilmi M, van-Dam B (2005). Cultivation of Tomato:
Production, processing and marketing. Agromisa Foundation and CTA, Wageningen pp.
92.
5. Solieman THI, El-Gabry MAH, Abido AI (2013). Heterosis, potence ratio and correlation
of some important characters in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.). Scientia
Horticulturae 150: 25-30.
6. Cochran WG, Cox GM (1957). Experimental designs. (Ed. 2nd). John Wiley and
Sons,New York 553-566.
7. Panse VG, Sukhatme PV (1978). Statistical methods for agricultural workers. ICAR
publications. New Delhi, India pp. 68-75.
8. Gomez KA, Gomez AA (1984). Statistical Procedures for Agricultural Research.
(Ed.2nd). John Wiley and Sons, New York pp. 680.
9. Ravindra M, Aravindakumar JS (2003). Influence of environments on the association of
growth, earliness and quality parameters in tomato. Indian Journal of Horticulture
60(1):75-78.
10. Shiferawet N, Krishnappa KS, Raju TBP (2002). Correlation coefficient analysis in
tomato. Current Research University of Agricultural Sciences Bangalore 31(7/8): 127-
130.
11. Ramana CV, Shankar VG, Kumar SS, Rao PV (2007). Trait interrelationship studies in
tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.). Research on Crops 8(1): 213-218.
www.ijaeb.org Page 221
International Journal of Agriculture, Environment and Bioresearch
Vol. 2, No. 02; 2017
ISSN: 2456-8643
12. Prashanth SJ, Jaiprakashnarayan RP, Mulge R, Madalageri MB (2008). Correlation and
path analysis in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.). Asian Journal of Horticulture
3(2): 403-408.
13. Meseret DR, Ali M, Bantte K (2012). Evaluation of Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum
Mill.) Genotypes for Yield and Yield Components. The African Journal of Plant Science
and Biotechnology 6(1): 45-49.
14. Dharminder K, Kumar R, Kumar S, Bhardwaj ML, Thakur MC, Kumar R, Thakur KS,
Dogra BS, Vikram A, Thakur A, Kumar P (2013). Genetic variability, correlation and
path coefficient analysis in tomato. International Journal of Vegetable Science 19(4): 313-
323.
15. Mahapatra AS, Singh AK, Vani VM, Mishra R, Kumar H, Rajkumar BV (2013). Inter-
relationship for various components and path coefficient analysis in tomato
(Lycopersicon esculentum Mill). International Journal of Current Microbiology and
Applied Sciences 2(9): 147-152.
16. YaDong S, Liang Y, Wu JMW, Lei L Wang XJ (2010). Correlation analysis on
quantitative traits of tomato germplasm resources. China Vegetables (6): 74-76.
www.ijaeb.org Page 222
International Journal of Agriculture, Environment and Bioresearch
Vol. 2, No. 02; 2017
ISSN: 2456-8643
Table: 4.25 Correlation studies of different parameters of Tomato
NPB D1F NFCPP NFPC NFrPC FrPC D1FrH NFrPP Fruit wt. PoD ED FrYPP PT NLPFr NSPFr Test wt. SYPP GP TSS Vit. C Sugar Lycopene β-carotene
Plant height 0.113 -0.168 -0.117 -0.085 0.055 0.129 -0.030 -0.106 0.597** -0.132 0.285* 0.004 0.426** 0.307* -0.169 0.603** -0.112 0.493** 0.250 -0.417** 0.134 -0.300* -0.331**
NPNB -0.335** 0.149 -0.049 0.061 0.118 -0.341** 0.115 0.034 0.225 0.315* 0.080 0.316* 0.093 0.219 0.019 0.245 0.195 0.163 0.201 0.041 0.148 0.176
D1F -0.451** -0.655** -0.475** 0.158 0.976** -0.451** -0.461** -0.527** -0.371** -0.473** -0.369** 0.081 -0.068 0.193 -0.435** -0.584** -0.205 -0.459** 0.110 -0.503** -0.561**
NFCPP 0.562** 0.547** -0.011 -0.567** 0.950** 0.246 0.426** 0.439** 0.935** 0.117 0.034 0.040 -0.009 0.910** 0.215 0.217 0.349** -0.091 0.225 0.302*
NFPC 0.618** -0.385** -0.672** 0.590** 0.352** 0.336** 0.267* 0.580** 0.119 0.116 0.009 -0.147 0.556** 0.485** 0.341** 0.281* -0.119 0.332** 0.376**
NFrPC 0.466** -0.514** 0.733** 0.235 0.371** 0.191 0.717** 0.169 0.112 -0.153 0.002 0.658** 0.337** 0.225 0.288* -0.231 0.333** 0.343**
FrSP 0.134 0.163 -0.137 0.050 -0.095 0.155 0.064 -0.017 -0.162 0.133 0.116 -0.115 -0.115 0.050 -0.132 0.047 0.009
D1FrH -0.566** -0.355** -0.614** -0.361** -0.565** -0.264* 0.148 -0.059 0.289* -0.542** -0.468** -0.132 -0.588** 0.183 -0.593** -0.659**
NFrPP 0.229 0.463** 0.367** 0.977** 0.089 0.029 -0.049 0.012 0.937** 0.203 0.192 0.383** -0.186 0.299* 0.357**
Fruit wt. 0.039 0.570** 0.398** 0.420** 0.221 -0.252 0.474** 0.145 0.632** 0.361** -0.335** 0.109 -0.201 -0.203
PoD 0.222 0.438** -0.100 -0.370** -0.291* -0.308* 0.364** -0.048 -0.054 0.759** -0.562** 0.686** 0.734**
ED 0.446** 0.440** 0.104 0.070 0.177 0.344** 0.356** 0.154 -0.160 0.294* -0.211 -0.161
FrYPP 0.148 0.037 -0.141 0.113 0.878** 0.266* 0.213 0.305* -0.189 0.253 0.302*
PT 0.312* 0.268* 0.364** 0.122 0.574** 0.352** -0.331** 0.418** -0.288* -0.247
NLPFr 0.292* 0.499** 0.166 0.443** 0.544** -0.447** 0.317* -0.419** -0.430**
NSPFr -0.046 0.245 0.262* 0.399** -0.142 0.757** -0.373** -0.284*
Test wt. 0.057 0.396** 0.505** -0.571** 0.220 -0.529** -0.567**
SYPP 0.297* 0.370** 0.322* 0.027 0.169 0.242
GP 0.689** -0.240 0.322* -0.159 -0.134
TSS -0.220 0.317* -0.281* -0.257*
Vit. C -0.654** 0.916** 0.946**
Sugar . -0.804** -0.737**
Lycopene 0.985**
** significant at 1% and * significant at 5%. NPB-No of primary branches, D1F-days to f1st flower, NFCPP-No of flower clusters/plant, NFPC-No of flowers/cluster, NFrPc-No of fruits/cluster, FrSP-fruitset%, D1FrH-days to fruit harvest,
1st
NFrPP-No of fruits/plant, PoD-polar diameter, ED-equatorial diameter FrYPP-fruit yield/plant, PT-pericarp thickness, , NLPFr-No of locules/fruit, NSPFr-No of seede/fruit, SYPP-seed yield /plant , GP-germination % of seed
www.ijaeb.org Page 223
