Heritability and Genetic Advance Studies on Fruit Yield and It’s Attributes Traits in Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.)

Abstract

The present investigation was conducted at the Main Vegetable Research Station, Anand Agricultural University, Anand during the period of 2023-2024. The experimental material comprised twelve generations viz., P1, P2, F1, F2, B1, B2, B11, B12, B21, B22, B1S and B2S of four families involving eight diverse cultivars of brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) used to study the heritability and genetic advance of brinjal for yield and shoot and fruit borer incidence. The experiment was laid out in a compact family block design with three replications. Higher magnitude of heritability along with a higher value of genetic advance as per cent mean was estimated for day to first flowering in family 2, plant height in family 1 and family 4, leaf blade length in family 4, leaf blade width in family 2, fruit length in all families, fruit girth in family 3 and 4, fruit weight in all families expect to family 2, fruits per plant in family 2, fruit yield per plant in all families expect family 4 and shoot and fruit borer incidence in family 2 which suggested preponderance of additive gene effect. The higher value of heritability coupled with the higher value of genetic advance shows higher selection efficiency, permitting plant breeders to efficiently select individuals or groups of individuals. In crops like brinjal, high narrow sense heritability estimates are particularly beneficial for developing enhanced varieties through the fixation of additive gene effects.