Genetic Divergent of Tomato Lines Based on AFLP Molecular Markers and Relationship with Heterosis

Tomato as a highly nutritious vegetable crop is widely grown in the world. Hybrid seed is preferably used for tomato production. Identification of superior hybrid combination is one of the most important steps in the hybrid breeding programs. Breeding of high yielding hybrids is expensive and involves testing large numbers of hybrid combinations in multi-environment trials. Successful prediction of heterosis from the genetic similarity of their parents based on molecular markers has been reported in several crops and can be very helpful in hybrid breeding. The present study was carried out to evaluate genetic divergent among tomato lines and to assess the relationship between genetic distance and heterosis among them. Thirty genotypes were examined for DNA polymorphism, using amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs). A total of 165 polymorphic variants were generated and genetic distances ranged from 0.04 to 0.23. Our result indicated that AFLP markers were successful in identification of polymorphism and genetic distances among tomato lines, but correlation of genetic distance based on AFLPs with mid-parent heterosis of yield, fruit weight, fruit number and fruit durability time was low and not useful for predicting heterosis in tomato genotypes.