VARIABILITY AND INTERRELATIONSHIP AMONG THE VARIETIES OF Bt AND CORRESPONDING NON-Bt BRINJALS (Solanum melongena L.)

Abstract

An experiment was conducted during the period from November 2015 to April 2016 in rabi season in the experimental area of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka to find out the variability and interrelationship of yield and yield contributing traits in Bt Brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) along with parents. The result indicated that different brinjal genotypes differed significantly regarding all the characters studied. Minimum differences of genotypic and phenotypic variances and coefficient of variation as well as high heritability coupled with high genetic advanced in percent of mean were observed for all the traits of different brinjal genotypes indicated additive gene effects of these traits. Fruit diameter of different brinjal genotypes had a high degree of significant positive association with yield per plant and high positive direct effect indicated that these characters had the major contribution towards the yield per plant. Regarding fruit diameter and yield per plant, the genotype BARI Bt Begun 4 performed best. BARI Bt Begun 3 and BARI Bt Begun 2 produce higher yield next to the genotype BARI Bt Begun 4. Based on the comparison of eight brinjal varieties, BARI Bt Begun 4 was found to be the highest yielder followed by BARI Bt Begun 3 and BARI Bt Begun 2. The other varieties showed much less yield compared to the formers. As no insecticide was used to study the resistance capacity of the brinjal genotypes against Lepidopteran insects like fruit and shoot borer, all Bt Brinjal varieties showed much higher yields compared to their non Bt Brinjal parents.