Transgressive segregation of morphological traits in populations derived from cross between Solanum habrochaites and Solanum lycopersicum

Objective: Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the economically important vegetables due to its worldwide economic in both production and consumption. Due to limited genetic diversity among cultivated tomato genetic resources, wild tomato species are commonly used for unlocking the genetic potential and transferring them to cultivated tomato. Solanum habrochaites is one of those wild tomato species that has great genetic potential for improving fruit quality traits in cultivated tomato. Material and Methods: Analysis of segregating populations derived from the cross between Solanum lycopersicum and Solanum habrochaites is important for the identification and introgression of such genetic potential. Therefore, the present study analyzed transgressive segregation of fruit weight, fruit length, fruit diameter and color parameters in F1, F2 and F3 populations. Results: For fruit weight, transgressive segregation was observed in just F3 population and five lines had higher fruit weight than maternal parent. Although S. habrochaites had smaller fruits than cultivated tomato, there was no significant difference between populations. Although transgressive segregation was observed in F2 and F3 populations for fruit length and diameter, there was no significant difference between mean values of populations. Conclusion: The study showed that F3 population is sufficient to select larger fruits derived from S. habrochaites.