Vegetative and Fruit Characteristics of the F3 Tomato Plant (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.)  Population in Bengkulu's Lowlands

Abstract

The long breeding period required to develop superior varieties is a major constraint in conventional breeding. This constraint can be overcome by identifying and selecting the best family (line) of the F3 population. This study aims to evaluate the F3 tomato population for vegetative and fruit traits in lowland areas. An augmented design was used due to limited F3 seed availability, with ‘Intan’, ‘Zamrud’, ‘Betavila’, ‘Servo’, and ‘Mutiara’ as check varieties. Results showed that each genotype exhibited specific superior traits. All F3 populations performed similarly to the checks for plant height, stem diameter, leaf length, and leaf width. Population 184 had more flowers per cluster than the checks, while populations 164, 144, and 9 exceeded ‘Mutiar’a. Genotype 191 had longer fruits than ‘Intan’, ‘Zamrud’, and ‘Mutiara’. Genotypes 214 and 180 had larger fruit diameters than ‘Zamrud’. Genotype 214 had greater fruit flesh thickness than ‘Zamrud’ and ‘Mutiara’. Genotypes 164 and 9 had more fruit locules than all check varieties. Genotypes 180, 214, and 164 had greater individual fruit weight than ‘Zamrud’. Populations 180, 214, and 184 had higher numbers of fruits per plant and greater fruit weight per plant than all check varieties (‘Intan’, ‘Zamrud’, ‘Betavila’, ‘Servo’, and ‘Mutiara’). Keywords: lowland, performance, quality of fruit, tomatoes, varieties