Phenotypic evaluation of Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) F₁ hybrids for growth and yield traits

Introduction

Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) is one of the most important vegetable crops belonging to the family Solanaceae with a chromosome number of 2n = 24. India is considered the primary centre of origin and diversity of brinjal (Vavilov, 1931; Bhaduri, 1951) [15,5] . The crop is widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions for its immature edible fruits because of its wide adaptability, economic importance, and high consumer preference (Rai et al., 1995) [11] . India is the world's second-largest producer of brinjal after China. The crop occupies an area of approximately 6.63 lakh ha with an annual production of 125.15 lakh tonnes and an average productivity of 18.8 t ha⁻¹ (Anon., 2016) [2] . Despite its importance, the productivity of brinjal remains below its potential due to the cultivation of traditional low-yielding varieties, narrow genetic base, and substantial yield losses caused by insect pests and diseases. Therefore, the development and identification of high-yielding genotypes have become essential to meet the increasing demand for vegetables. Brinjal exhibits considerable genetic variability for growth, earliness, and yield-related traits such as plant height, number of primary branches, flowering behaviour, fruit number, fruit weight, and fruit yield. Evaluation of diverse parental lines and their hybrids for these traits provides valuable information for identifying superior genotypes with enhanced yield potential and desirable agronomic performance. Assessment of per se performance is an important step in selecting promising parents and hybrids for crop improvement programmes. Therefore, the present investigation was undertaken to evaluate the per se performance of brinjal parents and their hybrids for growth, earliness, and yield-contributing traits under the central dry zone of Karnataka

Materials and Methods

The present investigation was conducted at the Department of Vegetable Science, College of Horticulture, Hiriyur, Karnataka, India during 2025-2026. ). These parental lines were crossed in a half-diallel mating design (excluding reciprocals) to develop 15 F₁ hybrids. The hybrids, along with the six parents and two commercial checks (Mahy Super-10 and Arka Anand), were evaluated during Summer 2026.

The experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. Seedlings were transplanted on raised beds at a spacing of 90 × 60 cm with a plot size of 3.6 × 6.0 m. All recommended agronomic and plant protection practices were followed uniformly throughout the crop growth period.

Observations were recorded from five randomly selected plants in each treatment of every replication for plant height at harvest (cm), number of primary branches per plant, days to 50% flowering, number of fruits per plant, average fruit weight (g), fruit yield per plant (kg), and fruit yield per hectare (t ha⁻¹). The mean values of the recorded observations were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) for the Randomized Complete Block Design to determine the significance of differences among the genotypes.

Results and Discussion

Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among the genotypes for all the seven traits studied (Table 1), indicating the presence of substantial genetic variability.

The mean squares due to parents and hybrids were significant for most of the traits. These results indicate sufficient variability for effective selection of superior brinjal genotypes. [12] , Chaurasia et al. (2019) [6] and Anvesh et al. (2024) [4] . The number of primary branches per plant ranged from 2.66 to 5.00 among the parents and from 3.00 to 5.33 among the hybrids (Table 1). Ramadurg local produced the highest number of branches (5.00), whereas Rampura local recorded the lowest (2.66). Among the hybrids, Melavanki local-2 × Ramadurg local (5.33) was superior, followed by Ramadurg local × Rampura local (5.00). The enhanced branching observed in these hybrids may be due to favourable gene interactions resulting in increased vegetative growth and a greater number of reproductive sites. Similar findings were reported by Rajashree et al. (2023) [12] and Chaurasia et al. (2019) [6] . The evaluated genotypes showed marked differences in days to 50 percent flowering ( [6] and Phor et al. (2022) [9] . The number of fruits per plant differed considerably among the evaluated genotypes (Table 2). Among the parents, the number of fruits per plant ranged from [13] , Ansari (2017) [3] , Pramila et al. (2017) [10] and Akiyonde et al.

(2018) [1] . Average fruit weight varied from 69.00 to 97.00 g among the parents and from 65.66 to 96.00 g among the hybrids. Rampura local produced the heaviest fruits (97.00 g), while Malapur local recorded the lowest average fruit weight (69.00 g). Among the hybrids, Melavanki local-2 × Ramadurg local (96.00 g) produced the heaviest fruits, followed by Melavanki local-1 × Malapur local (95.00 g) and Ramadurg local × Rampura local (89.34 g). The increased average fruit weight observed in these hybrids may be attributed to efficient translocation and accumulation of photosynthates in developing fruits. These results are in agreement with the findings of Mallikarjun (2002) [8] .

Fruit yield per plant and fruit yield per hectare showed substantial variation among the evaluated genotypes (Table 2). Among the parents, fruit yield per plant ranged from 0. [14] and Hussain et al. (2017) [7] .

Conclusion

The present study revealed considerable variability among the evaluated brinjal genotypes for growth and yield traits.

Based on per se performance, the hybrids Melavanki local-2 × Ramadurg local, Melavanki local-1 × Malapur local and Ramadurg local × Rampura local were identified as the most promising for yield and yield-contributing traits and may be utilized in future brinjal improvement programmes.

References

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