Determination of genetic variation of Ayhan Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) genotypes using some plant and fruit characteristics

The different climatic conditions of Turkey contribute to the diversity of genetic resources. It is very important to detect, describe, protect and evulate this genetic diversity. One of these genetic resources is the Ayhan eggplant, which is grown locally in and around Ayhan village of Avanos district of Nevşehir province. The most commonly used method for detecting and identifying genetic resources is morphological characterization using some plant and fruit features. For morphological characterization, observations and measurements of 41 fruit and vegetative characters of 29 genotypes of Ayhan eggplant were used and genetic similarity/differences were determined among eggplant genotypes. A dendogram was created using the 41 features examined for morphological characterization, and while the genetic similarity was determined as 0.91-1.00, two main groups were obtained in the dendogram. These two main groups are divided into two separate subgroups. While there are control genotypes in the first group, there are genotypes of Ayhan eggplant in the other group. The results of present study show that, Ayhan eggplant population has important genetic variation. These eggplant population can be used for eggplant breeding programs.