Results obtained from this study are presented below according to the different categories on which data were recorded.
1. Reaction of tomato entries to the pest
Percentage of infested plants/plot
The results of analysis of the three consecutive seasons and the combined analysis of their data revealed high significant differences (Pr> F <.0001) between all entries of tomato in different seasons, between seasons (Pr> F<.0001) and among the interactions of entries and seasons (Pr> F<.0001) for the percentages of infested plants /plot (Table 1). Accessions HSD11429, HSD6071 and HSD14358 were found to be the least infested plants with 5.6, 5.3 and 5.3% for infested plants/plot respectively, while the other entries recorded levels of infestation per plot ranging between 31.2 and 42.6%.
Number of active mines/plant
High significant differences (pr > f <0001) were observed between the number of life mines (contain life larvae) for local entries of tomato for the three consecutive seasons. Also combined analysis of the three seasons showed high significant differences between the entries (pr>f < 0001) and among seasons (pr > f >0.01), while no significant differences were observed between interactions of tomato entries and seasons (pr > f > 0.1). The accessions HSD11429, HSD6071 and HSD14358 were found containing the least number of live mines / plot with 5.0, 4.9 and 4.9 mines / plot respectively. The other entries recorded the highest number of live mines that ranged between 19.2 and 25.9 live mines / plot as shown in Table 2.
Percentage of infested fruits
As observed on the above mentioned two parameters, high significant differences (pr> f< 0001) were observed between the different entries for the percentage of infested fruits/plot for all counts across the three consecutive seasons and their combined analysis (pr> f< 0001), while no significant difference was observed between the interaction of accessions and seasons (pr> f< 0.2). The accessions HSD11429, HSD6071 and HSD14358 recorded the least percentages of infested fruits/ plot with 5.9, 7.2 and 10.8% respectively, while the other entries recorded the highest levels of fruit infestation percentage ranged between 20.9 and 39.0 % of infested fruits/plot (Table 3).
2. Plant characters
Days to 50% flowering
Results presented in Figure. 1 revealed that, there was no significant difference between the entries of tomato in the number of days to 50% flowering for the first the combined analysis of the data for the three seasons. The accessions HSD6071, HSD14358 and HSD11429 took 69.2, 69.4 and 69.7 days to 50% flowering respectively.
Trichomes density on cm2 of leaf
High significant difference (Pr > F> 0.0005) was observed between the number of trichomes on cm2 of leaf of different entries of tomato tested against T. absoluta (Figure 2). Accession HSD14358 showed the highest number of trichomes/cm2 on leaf ca (5.1) followed by HSD6071 with 4.5 trichomes/cm2. The accessions HSD10687, HSD11429, HSD6069, HSD4912, HSD4460, HSD10665, HSD6639, HSD 4419, HSD4420, HSD10689 recorded numbers of trichomes/cm2 ranging between 3.2 and 4.3 while the hybrids (Insaf, Amani, Jaguar and Amal) recorded 2.6-2.7 trichomes/cm2 (Figure 2).
Fruit Diameter (cm)
Figure 3 indicates high significant differences for the fruit diameter among the tomato entries evaluated against T. absoluta for the three consecutive seasons. The combined analysis for the three seasons showed high significance for fruit diameter between accessions and between seasons while no significant difference was observed on the interaction between seasons and accession and hybrids. The results showed that fruit diameters of all tested accessions were shorter than that of hybrids. The fruit diameters of hybrids ranged between 4.8 and 5.2 cm, while that of accessions ranged between 2.6 and 4.5 cm.
Total Soluble Solids (TSS)
High significant differences were observed between all tomato entries (Pr> F entries <.0001) and also between seasons (Pr> F seasons <.0001) on the level of the TSS for the three seasons. The combined analysis showed no significant differences between the interaction of seasons and accessions. Accessions HSD6071, HSD14358 and HSD11429 recorded the highest mean of TSS (4.7) followed by other accessions of which the TSS ranged from 3.0 to 3.3, while the hybrids were statistically similar in their contents of TSS (2.9-3.1) (Figure 4).
Yield (Ton/Ha)
Figure 5 shows high significant difference (pr> f< 0001) between the tomato entries on the yield for each of the three consecutive seasons, their combined analysis (pr> f<0001), among seasons (pr> f<0001) as well as among interactions between entries and seasons (pr> f<0001). The accession HSD 6071, produced the highest mean yield for the three seasons (7.9 ton/ha) followed by HSD11429, HSD14385, HSD10689, HSD10687 with 7.3, 6.7, 5.7 and 5.6 ton/ha respectively while each of all hybrids used for comparison with accessions produced ca 5.3 ton/ha.
Chemical constituents
Results obtained on different chemical constituents for all entries are shown in (Table 4).
Lycopene content
Lycopene was found to be highly significantly different (Pr > F <.0001) for all tested entries of tomato. Accession HSD4420 contained the highest content of lycopene (22.7 mg/kg dry weight), while the hybrid Insaf recorded the least content (15.2 mg/kg dry weight).
Tannin as mg Catechin Equivalents (CE)/g sample (DW)
High significant difference was noted between all tomato entries for the content of Tannin, which ranged between 1.6 and 12.6. The accession HSD14358 contained the highest Tannin content followed by HSD11429, while HSD10665 recorded the least content,
Carotene (µg β-- carotene / g)
Significant differences were found between different entries tested for the content of carotene, which ranged between 45.4 for the accession HSD6069 and 26.4 for the hybrid Insaf. Weak positive correlation was recorded between Carotene and number of infested plants, number of active mines and percentage of infested fruits; while weak negative correlation was found for carotene with yield.
Ascorbic acid (mg /100 g dry weight)
Significant difference was observed between tomato entries for the content of Ascorbic acid or vitamin C (Pr > F <.0001). The content of Ascorbic acid ranged from 18.4 to 28.2. The accession HSD4419 contained the highest content of vitamin C.
Relationship between different plant characters and insect infestation parameters and yield
The number of days to 50% flowering was found correlated very weak positively with percentage of infested plants/plot (r=0.26975, P=0.0011), number of active mines/plant (0.26455, 0.0014) and percentage of infested fruits (r=0.21820, p=0.0086), and very weak negatively correlated with yield (Ton/Ha) (-0.19129, 0.0216).
The number of trichomes/cm2 of a leaf was correlated highly negative with number of infested plants/plot (r=-0.8749, p=<.0001) and also with the number of mines/plot (r=-0.8242, p=<.0001) while weak positive correlation was observed between this trait and yield.
For the total soluble solids (TSS) the results revealed its high negative correlation with the percentage of infested plants/plot (r= -0.82977, p=<.0001), number of mines/plot (r= -0.84764, p= <.0001) and percentage of infested fruits (r= -0.81465, p= <.0001) while it correlated highly positive (r= 0.64773, p= <.0001) with yield. Lycopene, vitamin C and carotene were found correlated weak negatively with percentage of infested plants, number of active mines and percentage of infested fruits. Lycopene was found negatively correlated with yield while vitamin C and carotene correlated positively with yield. The study also revealed moderate negative correlation (r= -0.5409, p=<.0001) between the content of tannin in tomato entries and the percentage of infested plants/plot, while weak negative correlation was recorded for the same trait with the number of active mines and percentage of infested fruits. The yield was correlated highly negative with number of infested plants (r= -0.76520, p=<.0001), number of life mines (r=-0.74567, p=<.0001) and moderately positive with percentage of infested fruits (r=0.58991, p<.0001). High positive correlation was noticed between the percentages of infested plants with the number of mines/plant (r=0.95964, p<.0001) and infested fruits (r=0.86667, p=<.0001) while fruit infestation percentage was found correlating highly positively with the number of mines/plot (r=0.88661, p=<.0001).