Diallel analysis in brinjal (Solanum melongena L.)

Abstract

The present study entitled “Diallel analysis in brinjal (Solanum melongena L.)” was conducted at College of Agriculture, Vellayani during kharif –rabi 2013-14 with major objective to estimate heterosis, combining ability and gene action and to identify superior hybrids. The experimental material consists of eight parents and 28 hybrids. The hybrids were produced in a half-diallel pattern. The hybrid Neelima released from KAU was used as check for the estimation of standard heterosis. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications. Heterosis and combining ability was estimated for days to first flowering, days to first harvest, fruit length (cm), fruit girth (cm), fruit weight (g), calyx length (cm), fruits per cluster, fruits per plant, primary branches per plant, plant height (cm) and yield per plant (kg) Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the genotypes for all the traits. Six hybrids exhibited standard heterosis for yield per plant, fruits per plant and fruits per cluster. On the basis of per se performance and estimates of heterosis, hybrids Wardha local x Vellayani local (4.16 kg per plant), Swetha x Vellayani local (3.88 kg per plant) and Wardha local x Palakurthi local (3.38 kg per plant) were found to be the most promising for fruit yield and other desirable traits. The general and specific combining ability variances were significant for all the traits. The σ2gca and σ2sca ratio indicated that non-additive gene action was predominant for the inheritance of all the traits. The estimates of general combining ability effects suggested that parents Wardha local was good general combiner for yield per plant, fruits per plant and fruits per cluster, while Vellayani local and Selection Pooja were good general combiners for yield per plant. The estimates of specific combining ability effects indicated that cross combinations viz., Swetha x Vellayani local, Wardha local x Vellayani local, Wardha local x Palakurthi local, NBR-38 x Vellayani local, Gopulapur local x Surya, Surya x Vellayani local, Surya x NBR-38 and NBR-38 x Selection Pooja were most promising for yield per plant. These hybrids could be further evaluated to exploit the heterosis to obtain desirable segregants for the development of superior genotypes in future breeding programme.