Morpho-agronomic characterization and analysis of genetic divergenceamong accessions of tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The collection and characterization of tomato germplasm are of relevant importance for agriculture. This study aimed to collect and characterize, by way of morphological description and statistical tools for the composition of groups, tomato accesses from the Southern and Serrana regions of the State of Espírito Santo, as well as to establish the tomato germplasm bank of the Ifes - Campus de Alegre. Thirty-seven accessions were collected from different commercial locations of Espírito Santo. The experiment was conducted in the Ifes Campus de Alegre in the Agroecology sector. For the morpho-agronomic characterization, sixteen essential descriptors were used, nine quantitative and seven qualitative. In the color of the ripe fruit, there was the formation of five distinct groups with the colors yellow, green, orange, pink and red. In the format of the fruit, three groups were formed, slightly flattened, flattened and rounded. The ANOVA showed that there was a significant difference for all the quantitative characteristics evaluated. According to the Ward-MLM procedure, due to the high likelihood function in group seven (from 130.71), it was possible to group the 37 genotypes into seven groups. The greatest dissimilarity was observed in groups V and VII with a distance of 330.02, and the least dissimilar ones, groups IV and VI, with 8.21. Genetic variability was detected in tomato germplasm for the morpho-agronomic characteristics. Many of the accessions are promising sources of phenotypes of interest to the Ifes germplasm bank.