Evaluation of Morphological and Phytochemical Diversity of Some White Eggplant Genotypes

In order to select suitable parents for breeding purposes, one must have sufficient knowledge of genetic diversity and germplasm classification. It was for this reason that a study was conducted in 2019 at the Seed and Plant Research Institute in Karaj in order to identify and classify 17 eggplant genotypes based on the randomized complete block design. This stud measured 19 morphological traits such as number of days to flowering, plant height, number of stems per plant, number of nodes, and internodes, weight, and fruit yield as well as total phenol content, total anthocyanin content and glico-aldeid solasonin. The results of the analysis of variance revealed a significant difference for all the traits (p≤0.01). The range of variation showed great genetic diversity among cultivars, which can be useful for different breeding purposes, lower plant height to prevent dormancy. Greater number of stems and flowers are important to achieve higher yield, wherein 13321 genotypes showed lower height among genotypes. Cluster analysis classified the studied genotypes into three groups, and separated white eggplants from colored ones correctly. The PCA also confirmed the results of cluster analysis, showing that the color eggplants had more fruit yield, lower levels of solasonine, and lower days to maturity than white eggplants. However, the color eggplants that were used in this research were breeding cultivars; therefore, the use of breeding methods would be important to improve the quality and quantitative of eggplant genotypes.