Variation in Morphological and Agronomic Traits of Selected African Eggplant Accessions

Abstract

The African eggplant is an important indigenous vegetable crop in Africa. However, there is limited information on variations among the wild species that could potentially act as a source for crop improvement. A study conducted in Kenya at the University of Nairobi’s field station evaluated the agro-morphological traits of 72 accessions of African eggplant sourced from the World Vegetable Center and the National Gene Bank of Kenya. Randomized complete block design with three replications was used. Based on qualitative traits, cluster analysis grouped the accessions into two main groups. Cluster I had 51 accessions while cluster II had 21 accessions. Two of the three principal components axes had Eigen values > 7 and cumulatively accounted for 67.5% of total variability. Fruit and leaf characters supported the largest portion of variability among the African eggplant genotypes. Analysis of variance revealed significant differences (P<0.05) among accessions in all quantitative traits evaluated. The average yield per plant ranged from 72.3 g to 2902.3 g while the mean number of fruits ranged from 2 to 360 fruits per plant. The average weight of a single fruit per plant recorded a highly significant positive correlation with fruit length (r=0.73) and breadth (r=0.71). However, a negative but highly significant correlation was observed between fruit weight and the number of days to 50% flowering (r= -0.24). Generally, the study revealed significant morphological and agronomic differences among the accessions evaluated, indicating genotypic diversity that can be incorporated into breeding programs.