Improving the homogeneity of the local eggplant (solanum melongena L. var serpentinum) landraces using the pure line selection method [electronic resource].

Includes references.

The present study was carried out during the three years of 2007, 2008 and 2010, using the locally produced seeds of two eggplant landraces, obtained from the local markets of Alexandria and Kafr El-Zayat (Gharbya) governorates. The breeding program was applied to the landraces by selecting individual plants through two cycles of selected generations, using the method of pure line selection to introdUce improved strains having good fruit quality and high homogeneity, and adapted to the local environments. The breeding program was concerned with the economic characters and their attributes; i.e. the total fruit yield per plant, Number of fruits per plant and average fruit weight; in addition to the fruit quality characteristics ;i.e., the fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit shape index and fruit colour. The vegetative characters; i.e., plant height, Number of branches per plant and height of the first fruit node were also considered during the breeding program. The calculated genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variations (G.C.V and P.C.V) showed that their values were nearly equal fOr fruit colour, in both Alexandria and Kafr El-Zayat populations, indicating that this trait was not significantly affected by the changes in environmental factors.

Summary in Arabic.

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