Genetic divergence of very large fruited local tomato populations

Abstract

We investigated 15 divergent very large fruited tomato populations originating from Serbia. This tomato population have extra-large fruits (sometimes up to 1.000 g), and are often grown in home gardens and used for fresh salad, from reasons that they are very tasty and have extra short shelf life. We have been testing their plant characteristics such as: average fruit weight (g), uniformity of fruit size, weight of largest fruit (g), fruit shape, color of ripe fruit, fasciations of flowers and fruits, fruit firmness and content of vitamin C (mg%). There was a significant diversity of some fruit characteristics between the investigated tomato populations: average fruits weight ranged from 315 g to 690 g, weight of largest fruit from 510 g to 1.035 g, fruit shape was very different (flat, round, oval and of heart or pear shape), fruit color was also different (green, light green, orange, red and purple), with expressed flower and fruit fasciation, with soft fruits and very high vitamin C content. The dendrogram of phenotypic differences was formed. It was based on fruit characteristics (fruit weight, weight of largest fruit, and color of ripe fruit), and it consisted of four clusters. The first cluster consisted of related genotypes of extra large fruits, with extreme weight of largest fruits, and of purple fruit color. On the other hand, the other clusters were characterized by populations of moderately large fruits with light green fruit color.