Genetic parameters of drought tolerance for agromorphological traits in eggplant, wild relatives, and interspecific hybrids

Abstract

Crop wild relatives (CWRs) have barely been used in eggplant (Solanum melongena) breeding. However, introgression breeding may help in coping with the challenges posed by climate change. During the rainy and dry seasons, we evaluated nine accessions of eggplant, nine accessions of seven related species (of which six are CWRs and one is a cultivated relative), and 12 interspecific hybrids. Drought tolerance scores, calculated as ratios of growing rates and ratios of mean values during the rainy and dry seasons, were obtained for vegetative growth and yield‐related traits. Considering the vegetative growth and yield‐related traits evaluated, the F1 hybrid progenies of eggplant with S. insanum MEL1 × INS2 and MEL4 × INS3, S. anguivi MEL6 × ANG1, and S. dasyphyllum MEL6 × DAS1, plus the S. sysimbriifolium accession SIS1, displayed drought tolerance. Small to large gaps were observed between phenotypic and genotypic CVs of drought tolerance scores, reflecting variable influence of environmental factors on drought tolerance of the traits evaluated. In addition, the narrow‐sense heritability was generally moderate, indicating that genes with dominance and/or epistasis effects may be involved in the expression of drought tolerance. High genotypic correlations for drought tolerance scores between pairs of traits such as branching index and leaf length, leaf petiole diameter and plant height, number of stamens per flower, and fruit pedicel length suggest that drought tolerance of these traits is controlled by genes that are in linkage disequilibrium and/or have pleiotropic effects. The results are relevant for the development of drought‐tolerant cultivars of eggplant.

Progress on Genetic Improvement and Analysis of Bottle Gourd [Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl.] for Agronomic Traits, Nutrient Compositions, and Stress Tolerance: A Review

“…and its wild relatives V. umbellata and V. exilis showed enhanced drought tolerance (Takahashi et al, 2015). Inter-specific hybrids of the cultivated eggplant (Solanum melongena) with wild species S.insanum displayed higher levels of drought tolerance (Kouassi et al, 2021). For effective use of wild Lagenaria species for breeding, there is need for comparison based on qualitative and quantitative traits using relatively large germplasm set to determine the levels of variation for these traits.…”

Drought tolerance in F1 interspecific hybrid between, Solanum melongena and its wild ancestor, Solanum insanum

“…𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐃𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 , for vegetative growth parameters and 𝐀𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 for production characteristics (Kouassi et al, 2020). The resulting drought tolerance scores were compared to the baseline 1 using a single sample t test.…”

Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: A Synopsis of Coordinated National Crop Wild Relative Seed Collecting Programs across Five Continents

“…Although CWR have been relatively neglected for decades [ 15 ], their potential was highlighted by Vavilov, and their use in breeding has been increasing since the 1980s [ 16 ]. The use of CWR is widespread and well-established for crops such as barley [ 17 ], potato [ 18 ], wheat [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ] and rice [ 23 , 24 , 25 ] and developing for others such as alfalfa [ 26 ], carrot [ 27 ], chickpea [ 28 ], eggplant [ 29 , 30 ], finger millet [ 31 ], grass pea [ 32 ] and sorghum [ 33 , 34 ]. The starting point for use is viable hybridization between the crop and a wild relative.…”