Studies on variability, heritability and genetic advance in brinjal (Solanummelongena L.)

Thirty two genotypes of four groups including two checks (Arka Nidhi, and Mukta Keshi) were evaluated for ten quantitative characters. The analysis of variance for the design of experiment indicated highly significant differences among the genotypes for all the traits. Based on mean performance of genotypes NDB-301 for long purple and NDB-325 for round purple fruit were found as most promising genotypes for total fruit yield per plant. High magnitude of variability was observed in case of unmarketable fruit yield per plant followed by fruit circumference, average fruit yield, marketable fruit yield per plant, primary branches per plant and total fruit yield per plant. Plant height exhibited low value of variability. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance in percent of mean were recorded for fruit circumference, unmarketable fruit yield, average fruit weight, primary branches per plant, number of fruits per plant and marketable fruit yield per plant indicating opportunity for selection response.