Genetic variability for the tomato fruit's shelf-life and weight in F3 families derived from an interspecific hybrid

The genetic variability for the fruit's shelf-life and weight was evaluated in twenty-six F-3 families derived from an interspecific hybrid between the cv. Caimanta of Lycopersicon esculentum Mill. and the line LA722 of L. pimpinellifolium (Jusl.) Mill. The means for fruit's shelf-life were 8, 15, 18 and 13 days and for fruit weight were 52.17 g; 0.94 g; 4.45 g and 6.41 g in 'Caimanta', LA722, the F-1 and in the F-3 generations, respectively. No family was similar to the progenitor 'Caimanta' for fruit's shelf-life and only one family showed a shelf-life similar to the F-1 generation mean. For fruit weight, four families were similar to the F-1 generation mean and the F-3 families differed from both parent means. The F-3 family with the greatest values for fruit weight and shelf-life showed a fruit weight mean of 20.15 g and shelf-life period of 21.55 days. The smaller fruit weight was 2.81 g and the smaller shelf-life period for another family was 9.98 days. The wide genetic variability found for both traits between the families will permit to select divergent genotypes.