ORIGINAL PAPER Genetic analysis of in vitro callus and production of multiple shoots in eggplant D. V. N. Chakravarthi • Y. V. Rao • M. V. S. Rao • V. Manga Received: 10 February 2009 / Accepted: 5 February 2010 / Published online: 23 February 2010 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 Abstract Genetic analysis of four in vitro characters (callus initiation, callus productivity, embryogenic callus percentage, and mean number of regenerated shoots per callus) was conducted using a 6 9 6 diallel cross among four cultivars of eggplant (Solanum melongena) and two related species (S. indicum, S. surattense) showing differ- ent in vitro responses. Among the 30 hybrid families, the in vitro performance exceeded the midparent in 19, 29, 18, and 22 cases, respectively, for callus initiation, callus productivity, embryogenic callus induction, and number of regenerated shoots. Both additive and dominant effects were significant and additive gene action was predominant for three of four in vitro characters with the exception of callus productivity. Different degrees of dominance were observed in the expression of the four characters. The broad and narrow sense heritabilities were 0.97 and 0.82 for callus initiation frequency, 0.99 and 0.42 for total amount of callus, 0.99 and 0.92 for E-callus productivity, and 0.99 and 0.73 for mean number of shoots, respectively, suggesting that these traits can be easily transferred into economically important cultivars with low tissue culture response or recalcitrance. Keywords In vitro characters Á Genetic components Á Heterosis Á Solanum melongena L. Á Solanum indicum L. Á Solanum surattense Burm. f Abbreviations MS Murashige and Skoog (1962) medium NAA a-Naphthaleneacetic acid BA 6-Benzyladenine KN Kinetin E-callus Embryogenic callus MSKB MS with each 2.5 mg/l kinetin ? BAP GCA General combining ability SCA Specific combining ability Introduction The effective use of tissue culture techniques, such as in vitro selection, exploitation of somaclonal variation, and the possibility of gene introgression, depends upon the ability to initiate and establish stable callus cultures capa- ble of plant regeneration (Powell and Caligari 1987). Once genotypes with a desirable culture response have been identified, transfer of such traits to elite germplasm can be attempted. In vitro characters can be used in combination with other agronomically important traits for crop improvement programs. This requires prior knowledge of the genetic basis for ‘in vitro aptitude’ and will also help to predict the response of these characters to selection (Jinks and Pooni 1976; Mather and Jinks 1982; Powell et al. 1985; Caligari et al. 1987). The key role of genotype on in vitro response has been reported in many crop plants (Henry et al. 1994). The genetic factors that control tissue culture response have been reported in several plant species including alfalfa (Wan et al. 1988), barley (Foroughi-Wehr et al. 1982; Komatsuda et al. 1989), Brassica (Aslam et al. 1990; Ono D. V. N. Chakravarthi (&) MAS Lab, DSR-ICAR, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad 500030, Andhra Pradesh, India e-mail: vncdhavala@gmail.com Y. V. Rao Á M. V. S. Rao Á V. Manga Department of Botany, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam 530003, Andhra Pradesh, India e-mail: raovyechuri@yahoo.co.in 123 Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult (2010) 102:87–97 DOI 10.1007/s11240-010-9709-5