~ 2193 ~ Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry 2020; 9(1): 2193-2196 E-ISSN: 2278-4136 P-ISSN: 2349-8234 www.phytojournal.com JPP 2020; 9(1): 2193-2196 Received: 01-11-2019 Accepted: 03-12-2019 Leela Bhatt Department of Vegetable Science, College of Agriculture, GBPAU&T, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India ML Kushwaha Department of Vegetable Science, College of Agriculture, GBPAU&T, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India MK Nautiyal Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, GBPAU&T, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India Preeti Massey Department of Genetics & Plant Breeding, College of Agriculture, GBPAU&T, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India Corresponding Author: Leela Bhatt Department of Vegetable Science, College of Agriculture, GBPAU&T, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, India Evaluation of per se performance of parents and hybrids for quantitative characters in brinjal ( Solanum melongena L.) Leela Bhatt, ML Kushwaha, MK Nautiyal and Preeti Massey Abstract Brinjal or eggplant belongs to family nightshade (solanaceae) is one of the most popular and widely grown vegetable in India. Eggplant is a good source of minerals and vitamins in the tropical diets. Assessment of genetic resources is the starting point of any crop improvement programme. The crosses PB-6 x PB-101, BARI x Pant Samrat and BARI x Pusa Upkar can be exploited as commercial hybrids as they exhibited high per se performance. The crosses PB-6 x PB-101 and BARI x Pusa Upkar showed high per se performance for yield attributing traits, can be utilized for commercial exploitation of heterosis for obtaining maximum yield. It can also be concluded that for total yield per plant (Kg) SMB- 115, Pant Rituraj (PR) and PB-101 were established as good general combiners and yield per hectare (q). Hence, these parents can be utilized for further investigation and genotypes improvement in respective traits of brinjal. The crosses PB-6 x PB-101, BARI x Pant Samrat and BARI x Pusa Upkar highest per se performance for most the characters. However, these cross combinations can be utilized as commercially exploited to higher yield. Keywords: Eggplant, hybrids, nightshade, per se performance Introduction Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) or brinjal, worldwide known as aubergine or guinea squash, is one of the most popular and major vegetable crops in India and other parts of the world, belonging to the nightshade family Solanaceae. It is an often cross pollinated annual herbaceous plant, originated in India and shows secondary diversity in South East Asia (Haushna, 2009) [2] . Brinjal fruits are rich sources of minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc and copper. It is also a good source of fatty acids and it is used for medicinal purposes in curing diabetes, asthma, cholera, bronchitis and diarrhoea. It is reported to stimulate the intra-peptic metabolism of blood cholesterol. Leaf and fruit, fresh or dry produce marked drop in blood cholesterol level. The hypo Cholesterolemic action is attributed to the presence of polyunsaturated fatty acids (linoleic and linolenic) which are present in flesh and seeds of the fruit in higher amount (65.1%) (Timmapur, 2007). Germplasm is the basic raw material for any crop improvement programme. Conservation and use of genetic resources have a great significance. It may either be introduced from other sources or may be developed by concerned breeder from his own material. The availability of genetic variability in germplasm and its proper use is very important. For maintaining adequate variability, the germplasm should include land races, obsolete varieties, varieties and parents of hybrids, breeding lines with genetic markers and other morphological variants, wild forms and their relatives. Hence, collection, evaluation, maintenance, categorization and utilization of germplasm have special significance. Involvement of genetically diverse parents is essential to generate new variability and to look for desirable recombinants with respect to enhanced yield, quality and resistance to several important diseases. Genetically diverse parents are likely to segregates and or to produce high heterotic crosses. More diverse the parents, greater are the chances of obtaining high heterotic F1s and broad spectrum of variability in segregating generations (Arunachalam, 1984) [1] . So, collection and evaluation of genotypes is a pre- requisite for genetic improvement of the crop. Therefore, a field investigation was undertaken to evaluate yield and quality characters in 36 genotypes of brinjal (Solanum melongena L.). Methods and Material A field investigation was conducted at Vegetable Research Centre (V.R.C.), Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, and Pantnagar during the kharif season of 2017- 2018 and 2019.During the present investigation, the observation will be recorded on following parameters. Five randomly plants are selected and tagged from each replication from every