Evaluation of Selected Lines from Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) Landraces

Breeding of eleven Iranian eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) landraces was conducted via pure line selection method in two separate trials for three years. In the first and second years, trials were conducted separately in Varamin and in the third year a single experiment was carried out in four locations Varamin, Mashhad, Mazandaran, and Minab. Landraces of Varamin-Long, Chahboland-Neishabur, Sarkhon-Bandarabbas, Joybar-Mazandaran, and Ghasri-Dezful were studied in trial I, and landraces of Paboland-Yazd, Dastgerd-Esfahan, Jahrom, Lorestan, Shend-Abad and Borazjan in trial II. In the first year, some plants of each landrace (47 plants from trial I and 36 plants from trial II) were selected based on the quantitative and qualitative traits. In year two, selected plants of the first year (as treatment) and their landraces (as control) were planted in two augment designs and 35 lines (16 from trial I and 19 from trial II) were selected based on the yield and quality of fruits. In third year, selected lines of second year along with a control were planted in a randomized complete block design with three replications in four locations. Analysis of variance for each location and combined analysis of variance for all locations were done. Finally, 22 lines with best quality and highest yield were selected from studied landraces.