Drought tolerance among accessions of eggplant and related species

[EN] Adapting eggplant (Solanum melongena) cultivars to climate change requires the development of drought tolerant cultivars. In order to identify sources of variation for drought tolerance we have characterized nine accessions of eggplant and six of related species for tolerance to drought using a control with optimum irrigation and a drought treatment with a 50% reduction of irrigation. Many differences were found in the materials studied for the four parameters measured (leaf length and width, plant height and dry biomass). The materials with better performance have been S. elaeagnifolium and one accession of eggplant, while the most discriminant traits have been plant height and dry biomass. Overall, the results indicate that there is a large diversity in the germplasm of eggplant and related species for tolerance to drought.This work was completed as part of the initiative “Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: Collecting, Protecting and Preparing Crop Wild Relatives”, which is supported by the Government of Norway. The project is managed by the Global Crop Diversity Trust with the Millennium Seed Bank of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and is implemented in partnership with national and international gene banks and plant breeding institutes.Fita Fernández, AM.; Fioruci, F.; Plazas Ávila, MDLO.; Rodríguez Burruezo, A.; Prohens Tomás, J. (2015). Drought tolerance among accessions of eggplant and related species. Bulletin of University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca : Horticulture. 72(2):461-462. doi:10.15835/buasvmcn-hort:11600S46146272