Author(s):

Sunny Kumar, Bineeta Devi, KR Maurya and Ayodhya Prasad Pandey

Abstract: The genetic progress in any breeding programme is actually dependent on the variation in the present gene pool. Eggplant being native to India has diverse indigenous germplasm that can serve as a source of parental gene pool for any breeding programme. The present investigation was therefore conducted at the Department of Horticulture (Vegetable Science), AKS University, Satna during 2018-19 utilizing 12 diverse genotypes to generate information related to their genetic control. It was found that majority of the characters were highly heritable in nature. Fruit weight, plant height, fruit length, fruit girth, fruit yield per plant and number of fruits per plant had high heritability, high GCV and high genetic advance as percentage of mean, suggesting additive gene action for control of these traits. Days to 50% flowering, number of primary branches and days to first harvest exhibited moderate amount of GCV, heritability and genetic advance as percentage of mean indicating non-additive gene action. Correlation and path analysis revealed that yield per plant was significantly positively correlated with fruit weight and fruit girth. Path coefficient analysis revealed that fruit weight and fruit girth had maximum direct positive effect on yield. Other characters like plant height and showed indirect effect mostly via fruit weight and fruit girth. It was also observed that fruit weight, fruit set percentage and number of primary branches expressed direct positive influences on yield but plant spread and petiole length had direct negative effect on yield. Therefore, fruit length, girth and weight are important characters which may be included in selection criteria for improvement in fruit yield per plant.

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