Genotype × Year Interaction for Disease Severity and Fruit Yield in Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum, L.)

Abstract Understanding the complex relationships among genotypes, environmental factors, and plant disease interactions is critical for effective crop management and breeding strategies. This study was designed to magnify the genotype x year interaction and its impact on disease severity and fruit yield of tomato cultivars during 2021–2022 growing seasons. Three commercial hybrids (Anna, Sahil and Cienaga) were planted in randomized complete block design across the years at Agricultural Research Station, Buner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The tested tomato hybrids showcased highly significant differences (P ≥ 0.01) among the years, genotypes and genotypes by year interaction for early blight, late blight, bacterial spots, and fruit yield while significant (P ≥ 0.05) differences were observed for general disease occurrence. All the tested genotypes exhibited moderate resistance against early blight (2.4-2.9mr) whereas genotype Sahil was found resistant against late blight (1.8r) and bacterial spots (1.1r) across both the years. For general disease occurrence, genotypes Anna (2.4mr) and Sahil (2.3mr) were found moderately resistant. Genotype Anna produced maximum fruit yield plant⁻ ¹ (2.4 kg) as compared to other genotypes across both the years. This depict that assessment of disease tolerance is important for the genotypes across different environments in order to ensure yield stability of the tested genotypes under adverse situation. Thus, it is suggested that a thorough further studies on tomato genotypes and its interaction across the years will be beneficial in planning the future breeding programs for developing high yielding disease resistant tomato hybrids.