Characterization of Genetic Resources and Identification of Selection Indices of Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) Grown in Eastern India

Thirty five diverse genotypes of brinjal collected from different parts of Eastern India were characterized as per the documented descriptors and were evaluated for their morphological and yield component characters during autumn-winter season. All the brinjal genotypes under study showed highly significant variations among twelve quantitative traits. However, a wide range of days to 50% of flowering (47-79), fruit length (8.70 -23.90 cm), fruit girth (2.67-10.30 cm), fruit weight (52.33-319.37 g), number of marketable fruit per plant (4.33-12.00) and marketable fruit yield per plant (0.39-1.68 kg) among the genotypes was observed. Three characters namely, fruit weight, plant height and days to 50% of flowering exhibited high heritability and genetic advance indicating that such situation may arise due to the action of additive genes controlling the characters. The genotypic and phenotypic correlations agreed closely with each other. Fruit weight and fruit girth exhibited significantly positive correlations with marketable fruit yield per plant. Among the eleven yield component traits, fruit weight and number of marketable fruits per plant showed highly positive direct effect on marketable fruit yield per plant. Attention should be paid on selection based on marketable fruit weight and number of marketable fruits per plant for marketable yield improvement of brinjal.