Genetic Variability and Performance Studies of Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) for Fruit Yield and Quality

The genetic parameters were estimated for thirty genotypes ofbrinjal in terms ofplant height, branches per plant, days to 50% flowering, fruit length, fruit girth, single fruit weight, shoot borer infestation, fruit borer infestation, yield per plant and marketable yield. A genetic parameters like range, mean, phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) and genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV), heritability, genetic advance as per cent of mean was studied in brinjal genotypes. The study revealed highly significant differences for most of the traits. The phenotypic coefficient of variation was higher than genotypic coefficient of variation for all the characters indicating slight dominance of environment in the expression as compared to genetic contribution. Genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation were highest for fruit girth followed by number of fruits per plant. The high heritability has been observed for single fruit weight, plant height and marketable yield. Hence, these characters could be improved by simple selection.