Character association and path analysis studies in brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) genotypes
Character association and path analysis in sixty genotypes of brinjal was studied for 17 important characters. The character association studies revealed that the total yield per plant had significant and positive association with plant height (0.385), plant spread (0.660), number of primary branches (0.545), stem girth (0.539) at 90 days after transplanting (DAT), early yield per plant, number of fruits per plant and fruit diameter. While it was negatively and significantly associated with days to first flowering (-0.302 and -0.230), days to 50 per cent flowering (-0.272 and 0.229) and days to first fruit maturity (-0.164 and -0.168) at both genotypic and phenotypic level. Narrow differences between the genotypic and phenotypic correlation coefficients were observed for various traits in the present findings. This indicates the lesser influence of the environment in the expression of these traits and presence of strong inherent association among the traits. Path analysis studies revealed that significant positive association at genotypic level among the traits viz., plant height (0.235), leaf area (at 90 DAT) (0.228), days to first fruit maturity (0.162), number of fruits per cluster (0.280) and early yield per plant (1.903) had exhibited true association with direct effect on yield per plant. The direct selection for these traits would be rewarding for improvement in the total yield per plant.