Combining Ability for Yield and Yield-Related Traits in Manjarigota Type Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.)

Twenty one F₁ crosses of Manjarigota type of brinjal in a line X tester (mating design) involving seven lines and three testers were evaluated for general combining ability (GCA) of the parents and specific combining ability (SCA) of the crosses for various quantitative characters. Combining ability analysis revealed that two lines viz, IIHR-574 (L3) and IIHR-575 (L4), and two testers, IIHR-438-2 (T1) and IIHR-500A (T2) were good general combiner for most of the characters studied and, hence, can be used for further improvement of quantitative traits in Manjarigota type of brinjal. Among the 21 F₁ crosses evaluated, two crosses, L4xT2 and L3xT3, were found to be good specific combiners for most of the yield contributing traits, viz, fruit length, fruit diameter, number of fruits per plant, fruit yield per plant and plant height. Therefore, these cross-combinations can be commercially exploited for heterosis breeding to isolate desirable genotypes of manjarigota type brinjal.