Character Association and Relationship Among Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) Genotypes using SSR Markers

An experiment was conducted during rainy season, 2012-13 in seventeen brinjal genotypes to study genetic variability, heritability and character association in brinjal. All traits under study varied significantly. Genotypic variances of all traits were lower than phenotypic variances. High genetic advance with high heritability was observed for days to fifty % flowering, fruit length, number of marketable fruits, total number of fruits per plant and yield per hectare indicates the possibility of improvement of these traits by following selection. Yield was correlated positively and significantly with most of the traits viz., fruit length, number and weight of fruits (marketable and unmarketable), yield per plant and associated negatively and significantly with fruit diameter. Path analysis revealed that marketable fruits weight affected yield highly. Dendrogram from SSR profiles revealed by UPGMA cluster analysis could readily separate 18 Brinjal genotypes into five different groups. Genotypes viz., PB-4 and PB-66; Male Unicorn and White Long Green; PB-69 and PB-66; PB-69 and PB-4; PB-67 and PB-66; PB-67and PB-4; KS-331 and PB-66; and KS-331 and PB-4 combinations were highly related as indicated by high value of similarity coefficient as compared to other genotypes. Species Solanum ethiopicum showed least similarity with all the Solanum melongena genotypes.