MORPHOLOGICAL TRAITS AND PHYTOCHEMICAL CONTENTS OF BRINJAL GERMPLASM AFFECT THE INCIDENCE AND INFESTATION OF APHID

ABSTRACT: The study was conducted with BD-7320, BD-7328, BD-9952, BD-10154, BD-10158, BARI Begun-1, BARI Begun-4, BARI Begun-5, BARI Begun-6, BARI Begun-7, BARI Begun-8 and BARI Begun-9 germplasm lines of brinjal with a view to understanding the resistant behavior of plant morphological characteristics and phytochemical contents to aphid infestation. The experiment was conducted at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Gazipur, Bangladesh during September 2018 to March 2019. The abundance of aphid among the germplasm lines varied significantly, and was the lowest and statistically similar on BD-9952, BARI Begun-6 and BARI Begun-4. The abundance of aphid on BARI Begun-8 and BD-10158 showed significant positive correlation with plant height, branch/plant, leaf/plant and leaf area, but had significant negative association with abaxial and adaxial leaf trichomes, spine/stem and spine/leaf. The phytochemical content of leaf like moisture, total chlorophyll, proline, reducing sugar, total sugar and protein content had positive effect on the abundance of aphid, whereas pH and ash content of leaf had negative correlation. The infestation level of aphid varied significantly among twelve germplasm lines where BD-9952, BARI Begun- 6 and BARI Begun- 4 depicted statistically similar and the lowest infestation of aphid.

Keywords: Solanum melongena, morphological characters, phytochemicals, Myzus persicae.