Single Marker Analysis and Mapping of QTLs Governing Fruit Weight in Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.)

Abstract

Eggplant is one of the most popular solanaceous vegetable crops in India and across the world. Development of high-yielding varieties and hybrids is the major focus of breeders. Yield is a very complex trait affected by various genetic and external factors. The lack of knowledge of the inheritance of fruit traits in eggplant has limited the use of molecular markers to fasten breeding programme. The authors conducted the present investigation at the research field of Vegetable Science Division, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi, India. A total of 168 F2 plants derived from Pusa Safed Baingan 1 × Pusa Uttam were phenotyped for fruit weight. Wide variations were observed for this trait ranging from 15.2 to 248.3 g, and the skewness was less than 1, suggesting that the trait followed a normal distribution in F2 and suitable for QTL analysis. Polymorphism survey using 241 SSR markers showed 18 polymorphic markers, which were subjected to bulked segregant analysis. Single-marker analysis using genotypic data revealed the positions of 3 QTLs influencing fruit weight. One QTL (qsfwpu1) was detected in linkage group 1, and two QTLs (qsfwpu3 and qsfwpu2) were identified in linkage group 4. These QTLs explained 14.06–19.44% to total phenotypic variation and were classified as major QTLs, suggesting that these QTLs play an important role in controlling yield. These QTLs may be very useful in the future molecular marker-assisted breeding of eggplant to develop a variety and cloning of target genes of interest.