By Abani, Mark S.c.
~eveh cultivars of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill, ) ,
'Alphaf, 'Ife No. lq, 'Rorna VFt, 'Round Red1, fSupersonic',
'UC-82' and 'UN-81' were evaluated in field trials to obtain
estimates of'the genetic and environhental components of
variations for characters of interest to the processing
industry. They were planted on three dates, February, June
and November 1982, at three locations, Nsuidca, Nkpologu and Ezimo
in the derived savannah zone of southern Nigeria. From the data
obtained, it was observed that, colour, yield, $-carotene and
ascorbic acid were significantly affected by location, while pH,
titratable acidity, reducing sugars, total soluble solids, colour,
yield, 8-carotene and ascorbic acid were significantly affected
by season. Only viscosity, and pressure required to b'Peak the
skin of the fruits were unaffected by season or location.
These characteristics varied significantly between cultivarso
2
~stkateso f environmental variance were lower than for
en
genetic variance 0' indicating definite gene control of these
9
processing characters. Heritability (H%) varied from 51% for
@-carotene to 87% for titratable acidity. All heritability
estimates indicated that a new high yielding, high quality,
adapted processing-tomato cultivar could be developed by breeding.