Correlation coefficients and path analysis studies for yield and quality traits in brinjal (Solanum melongena L.)

Abstract

Character association and path analysis in 13 parents (10 lines, 3 testers), one check and 30 F1 hybrids of brinjal were studied at Vegetable Research Farm, Dept. of Horticulture, I.Ag.Sc., B.H.U., Varanasi (U.P.) during season Kharif 2020 and Summer 2021 for twenty-four important characters. The genotypic correlation coefficient in the present investigation was found significantly higher than their corresponding phenotypic correlation for most of the character pairs. The traits like plant height, number of branches per plant, number of flowers per cluster, number of fruits per cluster, number of fruits per plant, percent fruit set, average fruit weight and plant spread both from east-west and north-south direction showed highly significant positive correlation with fruit yield per plant, suggested that selection for these component traits simultaneously will be effective in improving the fruit yield in brinjal. Although these traits exhibited significant association with fruit yield per plant, only number of fruits per plant, average fruit weight and percent fruit set had high direct positive effect on fruit yield per plant, indicating the effectiveness of direct selection for the improvement of these traits. Therefore, more emphasis should be given to traits like number of fruits per plant, average fruit weight and percent fruit set for genetic improvement in brinjal. The high direct effect of these traits appeared to be the main factor for their strong association with fruit yield per plant. Hence, direct selection for these traits will help in development of high yielding varieties of brinjal. Besides direct selection for fruit yield indirect selection through number of branches per plant, plant spread, days to first flowering and days to first fruit picking should be considered for further improvement in fruit yield of brinjal.