Vol. 12, Issue 4 (2023)

Author(s):
Pradip Karmakar and YV Singh

Abstract:
The present investigation was conducted to study the crossability relationship among the two commercial cultivars Pant Rituraj, Pant Samrat and wild relatives viz. Solanum gilo, S. aethiopicum and S. khasianum and to characterize the parents and their viable interspecific hybrids for various morphological traits. All the crosses except crosses involving S. khasianum as female parent found to be successful. The crosses, S. melongena cv. Pant Rituraj × S. khasianum and S. gilo × S. khasianum produced shrunken seeds which did not germinate possibly due to somatoblastic sterility characterized by degeneration of embryo. The findings of the present investigation revealed that cultivated species S. melongena was cross-compatible with S. gilo and S. aethiopicum despite the parthenocarpic fruit set in the cross with S. gilo. Among the parents, maximum pollen fertility observed in cultivated brinjal varieties and minimum reported S. aethiopicum. Maximum and minimum pollen fertility observed in the in the interspecific hybrids S. aethiopicum × S. khasianum (78.63%) and S. aethiopicum × S. melongena cv. Pant Samrat (8.17%), respectively. With respect to morphological characterization, all the parents and their viable interspecific crosses showed ample variation for growth habit, texture of stem, stem colour, leaf colour, leaf size, prickle in leaf, midrib colour, prickle in mid rib, petiole colour, prickle in petiole, pedicel size, prickle in pedicel, calyx type, calyx colour, prickle in calyx, flower colour, flower size, anther colour, fruit size, fruit shape, fruit apex, fruit colour and fruiting habit. Thus crops wild relatives (CRWs) of eggplant may be regarded as a valuable genetic resources to generate genetic variation and are valuable for improving yield, quality and resistance to biotic stresses.