Summary: | To create novel tomato (<i>Solanum lycopersicum</i>) germplasm, a wild tomato relative, <i>S. pimpinellifolium</i> (a red-fruited LA1585 accession), was used as the male parent to cross with the yellow-fruited tomato mutant, <i>e9292</i> (<i>S. lycopersicum</i>). Forty-four morphological characteristics were examined in the present study; 22 <i>S. pimpinellifolium</i> (LA1585) traits and six <i>S. lycopersicum</i> (<i>e9292</i>) traits were dominant in the hybrids (first generation, F<sub>1</sub>); 10 were intermediate types, and the remaining six resulted in a nonmorphological difference. Ten representative lines were chosen from 1338 line of the second generation of the hybrid (<i>e9292</i> × LA1585). The ascorbic acid content was higher in three F<sub>2</sub> hybrids than in LA1585, which had higher parental levels, as well as the lycopene content in two of the hybrid lines. The fructose and glucose contents were higher in five F<sub>2</sub> hybrids compared to <i>e9292</i>, and the sugar/acid value was higher in three hybrid lines. The broad-sense heritability values ranged from 75.06% for total soluble solids to 99.92% for ascorbic acid, and the average value was 92.66% for 15 quality traits. When seedlings were exposed to NaCl and mannitol, the tolerance of high salt concentrations and drought was enhanced in two hybrid lines (F<sub>2</sub>-266 and F<sub>2</sub>-299) compared with else tomatoes (<i>e9292</i>, LA1585, F<sub>1</sub> hybrids, and F<sub>2</sub>-332). We created novel tomato germplasm resources with horticulturally desirable quality traits and abiotic stress tolerance, thus offering a methodology for novel tomato germplasm creation and evaluation.
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