Performance Of Five Egg Plant (Solanum Melongena L.) Cultivars Under Umudike Condition In South Eastern Nigeria

ABSTRACT

An experiment was sited at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture research farm in Umudike to study the performance of five eggplant (So/anum melon gena t.) cultivars under Umudike condition. The eggplant cultivars included Afoakonwa from Okigwe, Ofeogige from Aboh Mbaise, Afufa-Uku from Ogwu in Enugu, Mgbanauri from Ahiazu Mbaise and Ofenkwere from Umuariam in Obowo Local Government Area of Imo State. The result of the experiment showed that at 13 and 26weeks after transplanting, Afoakonwa had the highest plant height followed by Ofeogige when the least height was recorded for Afufa-uku. The Ofenkwere also produced the highest number of branches per plant and was closely followed by Mgbanauri whLe the least was observed for Afoakonwa. The result also showed two peaks in the yield pattern of eggplant. The first peak occurred between the second and third harvest while the second peak was seen at the sixth harvest. The Afufa-uku had the highet fruit yield which was significantly higher than Ofenkwere used as the control.