Genetic Variabilty, Characters Association and Path Coefficeint Analyisis of Brinjal (Solanummelongena l.) Genotypes Under Foothill Condition of Naga

A field experiment was conducted during kharif, 2017 at the Experimental Farm of Department of Horticulture, School of Agricultural Sciences and Rural Development, Medziphema Campus, Nagaland University. Eighteen genotypes of brinjal were evaluated inthree replications using Randomized Block Design (RBD). Study on the genetic divergence was carried out to assess the variability, association, direct and indirect effects on yield in eighteen genotypes of eggplant (Solanummelongena L.). High PCV and GCV were recorded by the number of fruit per plant (79.71 and 77.47) followed by fruit yield per plant (67.23 and 65.49). High heritability per cent of mean was registered for yield per plant (94.88) followed by number of fruit per plant (94.47), fruit length (90.25) and number of branches per plant (90.20) with high genetic advance number of fruit per plant (155.12) followed by yield per plant (131.41), fruit weight(65.18) and fruit diameters (52.63). High heritability with high genetic advance indicated the presence of additive gene effect. The correlation studies revealed strong positive association of fruit yield with number of fruits per plant (0.885), fruit length (0.684), percent infestation of shoot and fruit borer (0.625), number of branches (0.559) at genotypic level and number of fruits per plant (0.877), fruit length (0.668), number of branches per plant (0.523), percent infestation of shoot and fruit borer (0.399) and number of leaves per plant (0.363) at phenotypic level. The result of path analysis indicated that maximum positive direct effect on yield per plant was exhibited by fresh weight (1.362) followed by number of branches per plant (0.728), LAI (0.625) and percent incidence of bacterial wilt (0.295).

High order of negative direct effect on yield per plant was exerted by fruit diameter (−1.707) followed by percent incidence of phomopsis blight(−1.034), TSS (−0.941) and number of seeds per fruit (−0.771). The present study suggested that while selection, emphasis should be given on characters having positive direct effect for increasing the yield of brinjal genotypes.