Genetic dissection of phenotypic variation in segregating populations of CGMS-based intraspecific hybrid of eggplant

Genetic diversity is pivotal for the success of crop improvement programs, particularly in mitigating the adverse impacts of existing abiotic and biotic stresses and climate change. Hitherto, in present study, an introgressed male sterile line D-PSB-A (S/rfrf) was crossed with restorer line R-2596 (N/RfRf) to develop six populations [P1, P2, F1, F2, BC1 and BC1] to establish selection criteria for recycling breeding, targeting the development of superior recombinants. All six populations were evaluated for yield attributing traits viz., length, diameter and weight of fruit, fruit number/plant and seeds/fruit. High heritability beside high genetic advance was recorded for all traits except fruit length in BC1 and fruit weight in BC1 populations indicating prospects for improvement of these traits by simple selection. Based on overall performance BC1 population was found to be superior for developing new strains of the restorer with the genetic constitution S/RfRf.