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Genotype × environment interactions in eggplant for fruit phenolic acid content

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Abstract

Eggplant fruit are a rich source of phenolic acids that influence fruit culinary quality and antioxidant content. We evaluated the influence of production environments and stability of diverse genotypes across environments for eggplant fruit phenolic acid content. Ten Solanum melongena accessions consisting of five F1 hybrid cultivars, three open-pollinated cultivars and two land race accessions, plus one S. macrocarpon and one S. aethiopicum accession, were grown at two locations under greenhouse and open field environments. Twenty phenolic acid conjugates were identified in fruit flesh and assigned to six classes that included hydroxycinnamic acid amides, caffeoylquinic acid esters, hydroxycinnamoylquinic acid esters, malonylcaffeoylquinic acid esters, di-hydroxycinnamoylquinic acid esters, and other hydroxycinnamic acid conjugates. There were significant differences among accessions for total phenolic acid conjugate content and for all six classes. There were no significant differences detected among the environments for any of the variables. However, the environment × accession interaction was highly significant for all phenolic acid classes. Broad-sense heritability estimates for all six phenolic acid classes were high, ranging from 0.64 to 0.96. Stability analysis demonstrated widespread instability for phenolic acid content across environments. Stability of the predominant caffeoylquinic acid esters class positively influenced stability of total phenolic acid content for some but not all genotypes. High heritability, coupled with highly significant genotype × environment interactions suggests that stability estimates may improve the efficiency of breeding new genotypes with predictable performance across environments.

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Acknowledgments

Mention of trade names or commercial products is solely for the purpose of providing specific information and does not imply recommendation or endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Genetic Improvement of Fruits and Vegetables Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, B-010A, BARC-West, 10300 Baltimore Ave., Beltsville, MD, 20705, USA

    John R. Stommel & Kathleen G. Haynes

  2. Food Quality Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville, MD, 20705, USA

    Bruce D. Whitaker

  3. Instituto de Conservación y Mejora de la Agrodiversidad Valenciana, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera 14, 46022, Valencia, Spain

    Jaime Prohens

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  1. John R. Stommel
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  2. Bruce D. Whitaker
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  3. Kathleen G. Haynes
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  4. Jaime Prohens
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Correspondence to John R. Stommel.

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Stommel, J.R., Whitaker, B.D., Haynes, K.G. et al. Genotype × environment interactions in eggplant for fruit phenolic acid content. Euphytica 205, 823–836 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-015-1415-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10681-015-1415-2

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