The Quality of ‘Gboma’ Eggplant (Solanum macrocapon L.) Seeds Extracted From Serially Harvested Fruits.

Abstract

The study was conducted at the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria to determine the most appropriate stage at which to harvest 'Gboma' eegplant (Solanum macrocarpon L.) fruits to obtain high quality seeds. Flowers were date tagged on the field at anthesis an serially harvested at four days intervals fro 14 to 66 days after anthesis (DAA). Records were taken on fruit internal and external features, seed dry matter, germinatio percentage (GP), germination rate index (GRI) and germination index (GI) at each harvest. GP, GRI and GI were also determine at an interval of seven days during a 42 day storage period at 37C and 75% Relative Humidity. Fruit colour changed from green to yellowish-green at about 30 DAA and later turned brown. By 58 to 66 DAA fruit mesocarp and locular cavity were dry and fruit were prominently shrunken at 62 and 66 DAA . Seed dry matter incresed significantly (P<0.5%) from about 0.06 g/50 seeds at 22 DAA to 0.16g at 42 DAA with no further significant increases thereafter. Non stored seeds harvested earlier than 58 DAA germinated significantly (P<0.5%) poorer (0 to 19%) compared to those harvested at 58 to 66 DAA with germination of 52 to 58%. A range of 0 to 34% germination was recorded at 14 to 54 DAA: about 86, 75 and 76% at 58, 62 and 66 DAA respectively. GRI and GI increased significantly (P<0.5%) from about 0.1% to about 5.7% and about 3.0 to 272.5 respectively at 38 66 DAA in non aged seeds with increases during storage. A decline in the values of all parameters was generally recorded beyond 14 days of storage which is an indication of seed deterioration. It is concluded that 'Gboma' eggplant seed attained maximum quality at about 58 DAA when fruits were left to dry completely on the mother-plant and still retained high quality at 62 and 66 DAA when fruits had become shrunken.