Mean performance of eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) inter-specific progenies

In the field experiment, evaluation and screening of inter-specific progenies viz., selfed as well as back cross progenies of inter-specific crosses developed by hybridizing the cultivated parents with the wild relative Solanum viarum were taken up. During this investigation, per se performance of selfed (F₄, F₅, F₆) and back cross (BC₃F_1, BC₃F₂ and BC₃F₃) inter-specific progenies of brinjal genotypes EP 45, EP 65, C0 2 were analyzed for growth and yield attributes. The results indicated that most of the inter-specific progenies performed better than the respective female parents for most of the growth and yield attributes. The shoot and fruit borer infestation in the inter-specific progenies was comparatively lower than the respective female parents. The selected progenies based on shoot and fruit borer infestation in the F₆ and BC₃F₃ has to be studied further to derive segregants with high yield and high level of resistance to shoot and fruit borer.