Genetic Resources in Tomato and Their Evaluation

Abstract

Tomato is one of the most popular and widely grown vegetable in the
world ranking second in importance to potato in many countries. The
centre of origin of genus Lycopersicon is a narrow belt of South-American
west coast and the Andes. The greatest variability occurs outside this area
in Mexico, Central America and coastal Peru. Because of its climatic
tolerance, tomato has been proved to be one of the most versatile cultivated
plants. The erstwhile Plant Introduction Division (JARI) under the leadership
of late Dr. H. B. Singh, started genetic resources activities long back
and over the years, the NBPGR has assembled a total of 2,659 collections
in tomato from diverse agro-climatic zones of the world (from over 40
countries) and from within India. These were tested/evaluated in phased
manner but during past two years, data were recorded systematically on 39
different agro-botanical and economic characters.