Genetic variation, heritability and genetic advance of eggplant accessions (Solanum spp.)

Eggplants are economically important vegetable crops in many parts of the world especially Asia and Africa, where their fruits and leaves play a vital role in many diets. An experiment was conducted to study the genetic variability, heritability and genetic advance for 24 quantitative characters in eggplant. Thirty three accessions were planted in pots on the research field of the Faculty of Agriculture, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi using Completely Randomized Design. The analysis of variance showed significant genetic variation among the accessions for the characters studied indicating the presence of adequate amount of variability. High phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation (PCV and GCV) were observed for plant height, days to first flower opening, days to 50% flower opening, fruit calyx prickles, number of fruits/ plant, fruit weight/plant, fruit yield/plant and number of seeds/fruit. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance were observed for fruit length, fruit breadth, fruit length and breadth ratio, fruit pedicel thickness, fruit pedicel prickles, fruit calyx prickles and number of locus/fruit. Thus, these characters could be included in the selection criteria for eggplant improvement.