The genetic divergence (D²) among five accessions of eggplant was estimated to evaluate the efficiency of this divergence at predicting the performance of corresponding hybrids. The closest related accessions were PI 206472 and 'Campineira' whilst 'Long Green' and PI 206472 were the most divergent. The association between hybrid performance and genetic divergence of parents was analysed by three methods: 1) Pearson's (rP) and Spearman's (rS) correlation: genetic divergence (D²) was found to be linearly related to hybrid performance of mean fruit number per plant (rP = 0.71 and rS = 0.636, P < 0.05) and inversely related to fruit yield (rP = - 0.687, P < 0.05); 2) Divergence of cross classes: This found to be successful because two selected hybrids (PI 206472 x 'Florida Market', 'Campineira' x 'Florida Market') reached 2nd and 4th place on the rank of means respectively; 3) Method of double rank: This was found to be efficient since it allowed the selection of the cross PI 206472 x 'Florida Market', which reached 2nd place on the rank of means, overcoming the commercial hybrids 'Nápoli' and 'Super F100'.
Solanum melongena; eggplant; multivariate analysis; genetic diversity; breeding
