APPLICATION OF STRESS SUSCEPTIBILITY INDEX FOR DROUGHT TOLERANCE SCREENING OF TOMATO POPULATIONS.

Investigation comprised 41 tomato genotypes originating from the population of domestic and domesticated genotypes collected in Serbia and belonging to the tomato collection of the Institute of Vegetable Crop Science, Smederevska Palanka. The aim of collection screening was to choose the genotypes tolerant to drought during plant intensive growth stage, whereby the process of selection would set out to obtain the recombinant genotypes for this abiotic factor. The screening criteria were established for genotype divergence in plant height and shoot-root ratio under conditions of optimal irrigation regime and drought. Divergence was estimated using cluster analysis with Euclidean distance as a measure of distance, with a complete gene attachment to grouping. Drought tolerance is expressed by the stress susceptibility index (SSI). Various results were obtained based on the screening of genotypes grown under optimal and dry conditions. As a measure of stress susceptibility, based on SSI, genotypes having different drought tolerance level were determined. On the grounds of the analyses carried out, 10 genotypes were segregated (G102, G104, G107, G109, G110, G119, G125, G126, G128 and G141) to represent a basis to obtain the recombinant genotypes and to initiate the selection for drought resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]