CHANNAKESHAVA, B.CRAJATHA, K. D.2017-08-042017-08-042015-07-10Th-11092http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810027371Brinjal is one of the most important vegetable crop in India. Present investigation was undertaken to characterize 12 brinjal genotypes based on the morphological traits and to study the effect of drought and high temperature stress on seed quality parameters. Drought and high temperature stress were imposed on four brinjal genotypes to study the seed quality parameters by using three concentrations of PEG 6000 (0, -1 MPa and -1.5 MPa) and subjecting seeds to three different temperature (25 °C, 35 °C and 40 °C). Characterization studies revealed wide variation among genotypes for most of the parameters studied viz., seed size, anthocyanine pigmentation, vein colour, fruit shape, flower size and flower colour. Brinjal green round was the sole genotype which exhibited small sized flowers, whereas Arka Shirish and Arka Kusumakar showed greenish white colour flower. The experimental results revealed that drought stress and high temperature resulted in decreased seed germination, mean seedling length, seedling vigour index, total dehydrogenase activity and increased electrical conductivity. Drought stress (-1.5 MPa) reduced the germination per cent by (9 %) when compared to control (90 %). Similarly in high temperature stress (40 °C) the germination per cent in all the genotypes is zero, whereas in control recorded 88.5 %. As the stress increases there was significant increase in the activity of peroxidase (POD) and esterase (EST) under both high temperature and drought stress, irrespective of genotypes. However among the four genotypes studied in the experiment, Arka Anand maintained the highest seed quality under both the high temperature and drought stress.ennullThesis