STUDIES ON GENETIC VARIATION AND CHARACTER ASSOCIATION IN BRINJAL (Solanum melongena L.)
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Date
2021
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Abstract
The present investigation entitled as “Studies on genetic variation and character association in brinjal (Solanum melongena L.)” was executed to study the variability, heritability, genetic advance, correlation coefficient, direct and indirect effects of interrelated characters and genetic diversity present among the 16 brinjal genotypes at Horticultural Experimental Farm, Assam Agricultural University, in the year 2020-2021. Analysis of variance revealed that substantial genetic variation present among the genotypes for each observed characters. High genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation were recorded for number of fruits per plant, fruit length, fruit girth, fruit weight and fruit yield, which indicates that the existence of broad genetic base. Hence,, it would be amenable for further selection. High heritability was estimated for fruit length, fruit girth, number of fruits per plant, number of primary branches per plant, first harvest and fruit yield. High heritability accompanied with high genetic advance was observed for fruit length, fruit girth, number of fruits per plant, fruit weight, number of primary branches per plant, first harvest and fruit yield, indicating these traits are controlled by additive genes. Hence, these characters can be improved through simple selection. Correlation coefficient revealed that fruit yield per plant had positive correlation with fruit weight, plant height and fruit girth at both phenotypic and genotypic level. Fruit yield per plant was also found to be positively correlated with fruit length, root length, root dry weight percentage and first flowering node number at genotypic level. Hence, genetic improvement of fruit yield can be obtained by direct selection of these independent component traits. Genotypic correlation also revealed that positive association among the desirable traits such as, fruit weight with plant height, Fruit weight with fruit girth, days to first flowering with days to 50% flowering, number of fruits per plant with number of primary branches per plant. Hence, selection for such positively associated characters might help the improvement of fruit yield. Path coefficient analysis revealed that characters namely, fruit length, fruit girth, number of fruits per plant, number of primary branches per plant showed maximum positive direct effects on fruit yield. So, direct selection of these characters may be effective for the further yield improvement programmes.
Based on the Mahalanobis D2 statistics, 16 brinjal genotypes were grouped into 4 clusters. Cluster I consisted of maximum genotypes (7) followed by cluster II (6), cluster III (2) and cluster IV (1). Maximum intra cluster distance was obtained in cluster III (363.26) followed by cluster II (219.63) and cluster I (145.75). High degree of divergence among the genotypes within a cluster would produce a wide range of segregating material. Maximum inter cluster distance was obtained between the cluster III and cluster IV (6340.56) followed by cluster II and cluster III (4026.45), cluster I and cluster IV (2660.97), cluster I and III (1566.42) and cluster I and II (1141.38). This clustering will help the breeders to choose the diverse parents for hybridization programme, which leads to recombination of non-identical genes.