Heritabiltty of Some Characters in Eggplant

The heritability of a number of characters has been studied in the eggplant (Solarium melongena) using four varieties, R-34, Nurki, S-49 and Muktakeshi. Higher values were obtained in the cross R-34 and Nurki than in the other two crosses, suggesting that R-34 and Nurki are more divergent genetically. Number of branches per plant, number of fruits per plant, fruit weight and fruit length showed fairly high heritability and phenotypic selection for these characters should be effective, particularly in the cross R-34 X Nurki.