Abstract:
The field experiment was carried out to assess the genetic variability, heritability, genetic
advance, correlation, path co-efficient and genetic diversity for fifteen yield and yield
contributing traits in twenty brinjal genotypes. The study was conducted at Sher-e-Bangla
Agricultural University in Dhaka from November 2021 to June 2022 using a Randomized
Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. In this experiment, the existing
genotypes showed significant differences for all characters. The phenotypic co-efficient of
variation (PCV) was higher than the genotypic co-efficient of variation (GCV) for all the
studied characters. The highest PCV (68.60) and GCV (59.50) were found in percent of
brinjal shoot and fruit borer infestation. High heritability associated with high genetic
advance and high genetic advance in percentage of mean was found in plant height,
individual fruit weight and percent of brinjal shoot and fruit borer infestation, which
suggested that phenotype-based selection would be effective. Character association
assessments revealed that fruit yield per plant had the most significant positive
correlation with days to last harvesting (r
g
xiii
= 0.495, r
p
= 0.454), number of secondary
branches per plant (r
g
=0.356, r
p
=0.315), leaf blade length (r
g
= 0.714, r
p
= 0.462), leaf blade
width (r
g
= 0.674, r
p
= 0.498) and number of fruits per plant (r
g
= 0.798, r
p
= 0.787) in both
genotypic and phenotypic levels. Path analysis found that the number of fruits per plant
(1.421) had the most positive and direct influence on yield per plant. Twenty brinjal
genotypes were classified into five groups using principal component analysis, D
cluster analysis. Clusters I, II, III, IV, and V each have three, three, four, six, and four
genotypes. Cluster III had the highest intra-cluster distance (1.918), whereas the highest
inter-cluster distance (95.69) was found between clusters II and V. Mean performance of
cluster revealed the highest number of fruits per plant (13.45) and yield per plant (0.71)
found in cluster IV. Considering cluster distances, character contribution to divergence,
magnitude of cluster mean performance and genetic parameters, the genotypes G10 and
G20 from cluster III, G11 and G8 from cluster II, and G5 along with G18 from cluster IV
might be used in future breeding programs.
Description:
A Thesis
Submitted to the Faculty of Agriculture,
Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka,
in partial fulfilment of the requirements
for the degree of
MASTER OF SCIENCE
IN
GENETICS AND PLANT BREEDING
