The objective of this work was to evaluate the genotypic correlations and their development in direct and indirect effects of primary and secondary yield components on the fruit production of tomato accessions of the Salad group using path analysis. Data of 20 characters of 132 tomato accessions of the Salad group from the Germplasm Bank of Universidade Federal de Viçosa were used. After multicollinearity diagnosis, eight characters were discarded, and the path analysis was carried out with: main variable (total fruit yield); primary variables (average fruit weight and total number of fruits); and secondary variables (non-commercial fruits, precocity index, leaf length, thickness of main petiole, stem internode length and diameter, number of locules, total acidity and total soluble solids of the fruits). Leaf length, precocity index and stem internode diameter were the characters with highest genotypic correlation with total fruit yield. The path analysis with only one causal diagram showed equal importance of the primary variables in determining the yield (0.69, -0.54, 0.5, respectively). The path analysis with two causal diagrams showed that the simultaneous selection of leaf length and stem internode diameter can be a good alternative for obtaining gains in the total fruit yield.
Lycopersicon esculentum; genetic correlation; efficiency of selection; breeding
