RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF TRAITS FOR THE DIVERSITY OF TOMATO CROP

Abstract

Seed collections are an alternative for conserving plant genetic resources. The characterization of plant species contained in the collections has been carried out with the help of tables of botanical, morphological, and agronomic descriptors, which are mainly used without parameters referring to their effective contribution to variability, causing an increase in time and labor in the characterization of plants. This study aimed to evaluate the relative importance of the morphoagronomic traits in 85 low-growing tomato accessions from the collection of the Federal University of Goiás and estimate the descriptors that most help in the dissimilarity of the accessions and thus remove the redundant descriptors. The experimental design consisted of three complete randomized blocks, 85 plots (each plot corresponding to a different accession), and 12 plants per plot. The evaluations used adapted morphological descriptors described in the MAPA guidelines for distinguishability, homogeneity, and stability trials. 56.4% of the selected morphoagronomic descriptors are essential in the characterization study since they significantly contribute to the discrimination of genetic divergence between low-growing tomato accessions. Discarding 43.6% of the descriptors does not cause loss of information, reduces costs, and streamlines the management of the classification of the collection.