World Vegetable Center Eggplant Collection: Origin, Composition, Seed Dissemination and Utilization in Breeding

Abstract

Eggplant is the fifth most economically important solanaceous crop after potato, tomato, pepper, and tobacco. Apart from the well-known brinjal eggplant (Solanum melongena L.), two other under-utilized eggplant species, the scarlet eggplant (S. aethiopicum L.) and the gboma eggplant (S. macrocarpon L.) are also cultivated. The taxonomy and identification of eggplant wild relatives is challenging for breeders due to the large number of related species, but recent phenotypic and genetic data and classification in primary, secondary, and tertiary genepools, as well as information on the domestication process and wild progenitors, facilitates their utilization in breeding. The World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg) holds a large public germplasm collection of eggplant, which includes the three cultivated species and more than 30 eggplant wild relatives, with more than 3,200 accessions collected from 90 countries. Over the last 15 years, more than 10,000 seed samples from the Center's eggplant collection have been shared with public and private sector entities, including other genebanks. An analysis of the global occurrences and genebank holdings of cultivated eggplants and their wild relatives reveals that the WorldVeg genebank holds the world's largest public collection of the three cultivated eggplant species. The composition, seed dissemination and utilization of germplasm from the Center's collection are highlighted. In recent years more than 1,300 accessions of eggplant have been characterized for yield and fruit quality parameters. Further screening for biotic and abiotic stresses in eggplant wild relatives is a priority, as is the need to amass more comprehensive knowledge regarding wild relatives' potential for use in breeding. However, as is the case for many other crops, wild relatives are highly under-represented in the global conservation system of eggplant genetic resources.

Line × Tester Analysis for Morphological and Fruit Biochemical Traits in Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) Using Wild Relatives as Testers

“…The popular variety is based on local preferences [37]. The secondary genepool species are the reserve of useful genes for the improvement of present-day varieties, but because of breeding barriers, they are not exploited to their full potential [4,42,43]. Therefore, most of the time, the local germplasm is used extensively which might have resulted in the lower genomic diversity of eggplant, which has further resulted in the yield stagnation and susceptibility to diseases [44].…”

A highly efficient organogenesis protocol based on zeatin riboside for in vitro regeneration of eggplant

“…However, as it occurs in other crops such as onion [5][6][7] or gerbera [8], available protocols to regenerate eggplants are mostly inefficient or highly dependent on the genotype [9][10][11]. Thus, more efficient and reproducible protocols suitable to a wide range of genotypes are needed to circumvent the current drawbacks for in vitro regeneration in eggplant, mainly those related to the strong effect that the genotype has on regeneration efficiency, and even more if we take into account that globally over 6600 eggplant accessions are currently available in the germplasm Genesys database [12].…”

Sources of Resistance for Two-spotted Spider Mite (Tetranychus urticae) in Scarlet (Solanum aethiopicum L.) and Gboma (S. macrocarpon L.) Eggplant Germplasms

“…The scarlet (Solanum aethiopicum L.) and gboma (Solanum macrocarpon L.) are two eggplant species commonly grown as vegetables in tropical Africa and elsewhere as minor crops (Daunay and Hazra, 2012;Plazas et al, 2014a;Schippers, 2000;Sunseri et al, 2010). According to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF; 2017), the main clusters of S. aethiopicum and S. macrocarpon are in West Africa (Taher et al, 2017). Both S. aethiopicum and S. macrocarpon belong to the Leptostemonum clade (Knapp et al, 2013), which are native to the Old World and were domesticated from Solanum anguivi (Lester and Niakan, 1986) and S. dasyphyllum, respectively (Bukenya and Carasco, 1994).…”

“…Depending on the utilization type, S. aethiopicum can be classified into four main cultivar groups (Gilo, Kumba, Shum, and Aculeatum) (Lester, 1986). The Gilo group is cultivated for its fruits, the Kumba group is cultivated for its fruits and leaves, the Shum group is cultivated for its leaves, and the Aculeatum group is cultivated as an ornamental (Lester and Daunay, 2003;Prohens et al, 2012;Taher et al, 2017). S. macrocarpon is cultivated for its leaves and its fruits (Maundu et al, 2009;Plazas et al, 2014a).…”

“…The use of its leaves, which are consumed similar to spinach, is common in the eastern and central parts of Africa (Nyadanu and Lowor, 2015;San Jos e et al, 2016). Few studies have examined the diversity of S. macrocarpon ; however, in general, it is less morphologically diverse than S. melongena and S. aethiopicum (Plazas et al, 2014a;Taher et al, 2017).…”