Collaborative Survey of Eggplant Genetic Resources in Lao PDR, 2016

Under a Memorandum of Understanding, the National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (NIAS) of Japan and the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI) of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) have collaborated since 2006 to survey plant genetic resources in Lao PDR. The main objective of the current survey was to collect samples of eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) and related crop species from the northwestern provinces of Luang Namtha and Bou Keo, in Laos. From 7th to 23rd November, 2016, we collected a total of 108 samples, including 91 of S. melongena and 17 of other Solanum species. We discovered a wide diversity of eggplant landraces showing strong variation in fruit shape (cylindrical, ellipsoid, ovoid, and globular), length (9 - 212 mm), and color (purple, green, and white); spineless landraces were common. Seeds of these genetic resources will be produced by self-pollination, and NAFRI staff will evaluate the characteristics of the materials during the next season. The seeds produced at NAFRI will be shared between Laos and Japan. We plan to evaluate morphological characteristics and resistance of the accessions to Verticillium wilt, bacterial wilt, Fusarium wilt, and nematodes in Japan