Evaluation of brinjal (Solanum melongena L.) germplasm for yield and bacterial wilt (Ralstonia solanacearum) disease resistance

Abstract

Bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum, one of the important disease affecting brinjal and yield loss ranges from 11.67 to 96.67%. The conventional disease control strategies are not effective, hence use of resistance varieties and hybrids is the only way to control the disease. The experimental materials consisted of seven germplasm viz., CARI–1, Surya, WCGR, IIHR-3, S–75, Rampur Local and IIHR–586. The experiments were conducted in bacterial wilt sick plot with artificial inoculation of R. solanacearum culture. The highest variance was observed for fruit weight and lowest variance was observed on fruit yield per plant. The germplasm Surya was recorded as a better performed germplasm in respect to fruit yield per plant, number of fruits per plant, days to first flowering, number of primary branches per plant and percent disease incidence (bacterial wilt). The other germplasm CARI–1 was found to be immune to bacterial wilt disease with better yield performance.