Variability, heritability and genetic advance in brinjal

Highly significant differences were observed among the 25 diverse brinjal genotypes for different characters. Average fruit weight showed the highest phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variation closely followed by number of fruits per plant. The lowest values were recorded for days to first fruit set followed by days to first flowering. All the characters exhibited less difference between GCV and PCV values and traits like average fruit weight, days to first fruit harvest, fruit index and yield/plant showed nearly equal GCV and PCV values indicating least influence of environment on their expression. The heritability estimates were high (above 87%) for all the characters. The maximum heritability was observed for average fruit weight closely followed by fruit index and yield/plant. The genetic advance as percentage of mean was high for average fruit weight, number of fruits/plant and yield/plant. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was observed for number of fruits/plant, average fruit weight and yield/plant indicating that they are governed by additive genes and could be effectively improved through selection.