Heterosis in egg plant (Solanum melongena L.)

Fifteen F1 hybrids of egg plant in a diallel set involving 6 parents (excluding reciprocals) were studied for manifestation of better parent and mid parent heterosis for yield per plant and six other attributes. Five hybrids over better parents and 7 hybrids over mid parents showed positive and significant heterosis for yield per plant. The better parents and mid parents heterosis ranged from 3.09 - 82.57% and from 4.34 - 130.37% respectively. Significant values of heterosis over better parent as well as mid-parent were also observed for other attributes, indicating their contribution to the heterosis for plant yield. Three hybrids, viz., CH-4 × CH-82 (1 ×5), CH-4 × CH-95 (1 ×6) and CH-13 × CH-82 (2 ×5) showed better performance.